Tuesday, July 22, 2008

My Blueberry Nights


Legendary filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai directs Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz, and Norah Jones in his first English-language feature film -- a romantic road movie detailing the cross-country journey of a woman who sets off across the United States in hopes of mending her broken heart. Elizabeth (Jones) has just been through a particularly nasty breakup, and now she's ready to leave her friends and memories behind as she chases her dreams across the country. In order to support herself on her journey, Elizabeth picks up a series of waitress jobs along the way. As Elizabeth crosses paths with a series of lost souls whose yearnings are even greater than her own -- including a troubled cop (David Strathairn), his estranged wife (Rachel Weisz), and an embittered gambler (Natalie Portman) -- their emotional turmoil ultimately helps her gain a greater understanding of her own problems.

Vantage Point


Forest Whitaker, Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, and Matthew Fox star in director Pete Travis' Rashomon-style thriller in which an assassination attempt on the president of the United States is detailed from five unique perspectives. As the president arrives in Salamanca, gunshots ring out. An American tourist (Whitaker) has captured footage of the would-be assassin on videotape, and now, as the stories of the other four witnesses unfold, each essential piece of the puzzle quickly falls into place. Only when all of the stories are told will the chilling truth to this shocking crime finally emerge.

Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd


Bumbling R&D inventors (Masi Oka) and Lloyd (Nate Torrence) get out of the lab and into the field as they search to locate latest invention - which has somehow gone missing. When you're used to spending your day inventing the most cutting edge spy equipment known to man, adapting the stealth and guile needed to become a true secret agent doesn't come naturally. Unfortunately the invisibility cloak that the pair recently collaborated on has disappeared, and in order to ensure that it doesn't fall into the hands of KAOS they will have to master the skills of a true spy. But how exactly does one find an object that's invisible to begin with? As the search gets underway, these brainy inventors are given an eye-opening crash course in high-level espionage

The Dark Knight 2008

The caped crusader gets a stunning dose of hardcore dramatics in The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan’s ambitious follow-up to Batman Begins. Hailed as the first real big screen adult take on a popular comic mythos, the film goes to great lengths to show that costumed characters can indeed exist in genres outside of their comfort zone – which in this case, spells gritty crime drama. Nolan’s Gotham City might be beautiful, but it’s decaying from the inside out – as are most of the people in control of it. So at what point do the efforts of a costumed vigilante cease to have an impact on the society he vows to protect – and when does his mere presence present a detriment to them when it’s all said and done? It’s these kind of hefty issues that embody what could accurately be touted as a reinvention of the entire superhero film altogether. Thick with rich dramatics, daring performances and a few knockout scenes of action gusto, The Dark Knight strives to not only one-up its precursor, but also lay down a measuring stick of quality for the rest of Hollywood to live up to.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Mad Detective

Cinematic action masters Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai return with the explosive MAD DETECTIVE, an incendiary adventure full of delightfully off-kilter events and a fascinating journey into the human psyche. When a missing detective’s gun is implicated in a recent series of heists and murders, a hot shot inspector HO (Andy On) seeks out his former boss, BUN (Lau Ching Wan), a gifted criminal profiler now living in seclusion with his wife MAY (Kelly Lin). Bun has a truly unique gift: he can see the inner personalities of the people he meets. As Bun travels further into the psychosis of a prime suspect his unorthodox approach begins to wear on Hos mind. What begins as a quest for answers has now taken a schizophrenic turn where truth and lies, reality and delusions intertwine…

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Ruins


Based on the novel by A Simple Plan author Scott Smith, director Carter B. Smith's Yucatan-set thriller follows four American tourists as they unwisely venture off the beaten path while vacationing in Cancun. When a friendly German tourist implores the Americans to help search the jungle for his missing brother, the group becomes hopelessly trapped in a nightmare scenario that seems too strange to be true. Jonathan Tucker, Laura Ramsey, Jena Malone, and Shawn Ashmore star.

SUPER HIGH ME


The documentary Super High Me follows comedian Doug Benson as he spends one month indulging in neither marijuana nor alcohol. Then the camera stayed with him for a second month while he smoked and drank all day every day. Along the way, viewers get a look at the history of medical marijuana in California, and a taste of how the political battles surrounding the issue continue. To mark the film’s DVD release, director Michael Blieden sat down with AllMovie’s Perry Seibert to answer questions about the film, and to discuss some of his more obscure gigs, his plans for the future, and the advantages of being part of the L.A. comedy scene.