In Homeland‘s season three 3 minutes and 11 seconds trailer much is hinted at yet nothing is completely confirmed. What the official trailer does reveal is Carrie (Claire Danes) is going to be put through the emotional wringer – again – and Brody (Damian Lewis) is alive and in hiding (at least for a while).
Homeland returns for season three on September 29, 2013 at 9pm.
“I need to get to Elysium,” says Max (Matt Damon), a man who’s desperate to save himself and might be the key to saving all of mankind in the science fiction thriller Elysium.
The year is 2154 and the Earth is an overpopulated wasteland with people living and working practically on top of each other, struggling to stay alive and being policed by patrol droids. The rich and powerful live out in space on a pristine space station called Elysium, a beautiful Garden of Eden where any sickness – including cancer – can be quickly cured.
On Elysium, Delacourt (Jodie Foster) is in charge of security and enforcing the anti-immigration laws to prevent any people from Earth from reaching paradise on the space station. That doesn’t stop some from Earth from trying to escape the poverty and crime running rampant and for those who are critically ill from trying to get to Elysium to use state-of-art medicine.
When Max, a down-on-his-luck blue-collar worker, has an accident at work, which leaves him facing his own mortality, he quickly decides to join with a small group of revolutionists to find a way to get to Elysium. The leader of the rebels believes that Max might just be able to not only save himself but free everyone on Earth from the control and tyranny of those in charge on Elysium.
Written and directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9), Elysium is a creative science fiction thriller that has a strong cast but drags between its hectic action scenes. Matt Damon, who obviously worked out and buffed up to portray Max, is a one-note hero who is only interested in saving himself until near the end of the film, which makes him a fairly unsympathetic character throughout much of the movie. Jodie Foster delivers a stilted and wooden performance as Delacourt, a military commander who believes in keeping all residents of Earth out of Elysium no matter what it takes. It’s the worst performance in the film.
The best thing about Elysium is Sharlto Copley’s over-the-top performance as Kruger, a mercenary who carries out Delacourt’s horrific orders against the citizens of Earth and eventually hunts Max to stop him from his mission. He’s a villain who, unfortunately, deserves a stronger and more interesting hero to fight against.
The look and design of the film are extremely similar to the original production design in Blomkamp’s first film District 9, which makes it repetitive and not all that interesting. The action scenes are extremely chaotic with hand-held cameras and jerky cuts, resulting in movement that becomes increasingly difficult for the audience to follow. The pacing of the film is also incredibly slow between the action scenes, which makes Elysium feel much longer than an hour and 50 minutes.
With its over-obvious message about class distinction and immigration and its unimpressive action scenes, Elysium ends up being nothing more than a second-rate science fiction tale that is sure to have the movie-going audience wishing they were watching District 9 again instead.
GRADE: C-
Elysium is rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout.
Amber Tamblyn has been tapped to play Charlie Harper’s illegitimate daughter on Two and a Half Men‘s 11th season. Tamblyn will portray Jenny in a five-episode arc when the series returns on September 26, 2013 at 9:30pm.
Per CBS, Jenny is “Charlie Harper’s illegitimate daughter who moves to Los Angeles to pursue acting and to connect with what’s left of her family. She likes everything her dad liked – including women.”
Writer/actress Tamblyn’s credits include Joan of Arcadia, House MD, The Unusuals, General Hospital, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, 127 Hours, and Stephanie Daley.
“Long before anyone else, a curious man and an unconventional woman were mastering the art of impolite science.”
The new trailer for Showtime’s upcoming dramedy Masters of Sex provides a little background into what the show’s about (as if the title doesn’t pretty much spell that out). Starring Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan, Masters of Sex will debut on September 29, 2013 at 10pm.
The Plot: Sheen and Caplan portray the real-life pioneers of the science of human sexuality, William Masters and Virginia Johnson. The series chronicles the unusual lives, romance and pop culture trajectory of Masters and Johnson. Their research touched off the sexual revolution and took them from a mid-western teaching hospital in St. Louis to the cover of Time magazine.
Tara’s in jail, Clay may rat out the club, Jax is out for revenge, and the club’s numbers are dangerously low in the new trailer for FX’s Sons of Anarchy‘s season six.
Premiering on September 10, 2013, SoA‘s next-to-last season promises to be just as riveting as the previous five – and you can bet not every character will survive the season.
5,000 tweets have been tallied and Syfy’s Sharknado sequel has a new title. And the winning name is….wait for it…Sharknado 2: The Second One, which is one of the most awesome titles for a sequel in history.
The sequel to the social media sensation will air on the network next July.
“Since Twitter played such a huge role in the success of the original movie, we wanted to use that platform to ask our fans to name Sharknado 2,” said Thomas Vitale, Executive Vice President, Programming and Original Movies, Syfy. “This response is another reminder of how Sharknado has become a pop culture phenomenon. We want to thank all our viewers for their wonderful contributions to keeping up the shark-mentum.”
The Original Sharknado‘s Plot:
In Sharknado, regulars of a beachside bar including owner Fin (Ian Ziering), bartender Nova (Cassie Scerbo) and local drunk George (John Heard) teamed up with Fin’s ex-wife April (Tara Reid) to investigate the ecological nightmare that has sharks swimming through the streets of Los Angeles and falling from the skies.
The sequel will move the high-flying shark action to New York.
An Orson Welles film thought to have been lost forever has been restored by the George Eastman House and will have its world premiere October 9, 2013 during the La Giornate del Cinema Muto (the first film festival of silent cinema). Welles’ 1938 movie Too Much Johnson, which was never shown to the public, was found in an art house in Italy and meticulously restored to screening condition.
Before this print had been found, it was thought the only print had gone up in flames in 1970 when Welles’ house burned down.
“To think that a silent film by Orson Welles has been dormant for more than thirty years in the same city where a major festival of silent film has been held for about as much time is mind-boggling. It almost defies belief,” said Cherchi Usai, co-founder of the silent film festival.
“This is by far the most important film restoration by George Eastman House in a very long time,” stated Paolo Cherchi Usai, senior curator of film. “Holding in one’s hands the very same print that had been personally edited by Orson Welles 75 years ago provokes an emotion that’s just impossible to describe.”
The world premiere will be followed by a U.S. premiere on October 16th in Rochester, New York.
“The Motion Picture Department at George Eastman House is one of the oldest and most prestigious film archives in the United States and we are honored to host the U.S. premiere of this iconic film in the fall,” said Bruce Barnes, Ron and Donna Fielding Director of George Eastman House. “Under the leadership of Paolo Cherchi Usai, our museum is being widely recognized for its efforts in the field of moving image preservation. We are proud to be a key contributor to the restoration of one of the greatest long-lost treasures in motion picture history.”
Details on Two Much Johnson:
“Too Much Johnson was originally intended to be used in conjunction with Welles’ stage adaptation of an 1894 play by William Gillette. The Mercury Theatre planned to show the three short films as prologues to each act of the play. The three-part slapstick comedy was meant to be shown with the accompaniment of music and live sound effects, but was never finished. Joseph Cotten was cast in the lead role, with supporting roles going to Mercury Theatre actors, including Eustace Wyatt, Edgar Barrier, Ruth Ford, Arlene Francis, Mary Wickes, Orson Welles, and his wife Virginia Nicholson. The play ultimately opened without the film on August 16, 1938, and flopped.”
Coldplay’s never recorded an original song for a movie but they did so now with “Atlas,” the first song to be revealed off of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack. Lionsgate and Republic Records announced “Atlas” will be released on August 26, 2013.
“I have great respect and admiration for Coldplay, and we are thrilled with how well they have connected to the themes and ideas within the film,” stated Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence. “Their unwavering passion and excitement for the project elevated the collaboration even further, and we can’t wait to share this music with audiences around the world.”
“We are so honored that Coldplay, one of the iconic rock bands of our generation, will perform the first song out on the new soundtrack,” added Tracy McKnight, Lionsgate’s Head of Film Music. “Knowing that Chris Martin is a fan of the books makes this even more meaningful. The Coldplay single underscores the stature of recording artists we’ve assembled for this powerful soundtrack.”
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Plot: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire begins as Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence) has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark (played by Josh Hutcherson). Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens in theaters on November 22, 2013.
When a first-time writer/director makes a low budget movie that ends up making a lot of money and achieves critical success as well, the common effect is a studio hoping lightning will strike the same spot twice and giving that director more money for their sophomore effort. Such is the case with Neill Blomkamp, who made District 9 with a $30 million dollar production budget, which ended up raking in $115 million dollars at the domestic box office, earned four Oscar nominations including Best Picture, and launched Sharlto Copley’s acting career. Now he’s back with Elysium, which has a $100 million dollar production budget, casts A-listers Matt Damon and Jodie Foster above the title, and re-teams the aspiring auteur with Copley once again.
Seems like a sure bet, right? The conventional wisdom is that this will end up making back the money it took to produce at the domestic box office but what has all that extra moolah and star power achieved in terms of filmmaking? Not a lot, unfortunately.
Set in 2154, the movie is a simplistic dystopian future where the upper class, or 1% if you enjoy occupying Wall Street, has fled to an Earth-orbiting, man-made space colony called Elysium. Up there, people enjoy clean air, speak English and French, and have access to medical treatment capable of curing disease, fixing broken limbs, and all sorts of magical medical badassery. Down on terra firma, cities like Los Angeles have become wildly overpopulated, the air is polluted (what’s new?), people speak English and Spanish, and disease and sickness run rampant.
Only qualified Elysium citizens are allowed to reap the benefits of its technology and so illegal immigrants continue to attempt entry via unauthorized shuttle launches. Jodie Foster plays the Defense Secretary of the colony, not hesitating to use lethal action to keep the riff-raff outside their borders. (This movie is anything but subtle in its approach.) Matt Damon plays a parolee trying to get his life back on track, but an accident at work leaves him with only a short time to live and forces him to try to reach Elysium in order to utilize their medical facilities. Oh, and his childhood love (Alice Braga) has just re-entered his life and has a daughter with leukemia who also needs immediate care in order to survive. Isn’t that just special? (And convenient.)
From a visual standpoint, the movie excels. The look of the Elysium colony is bright and beautiful (with a markedly non-Hispanic population), providing a stark contrast to the dusty, dirty slums where the (largely Hispanic) population struggles to eke out a living. And this is where things begin to go awry. District 9 wasn’t too subtle about its allegorical connection to Apartheid, but by making it a human versus alien story, it did present the genocidal practice in a different light. Here, there’s no adaptation of the hot-button issue of illegal immigration, it’s simply gussied up with science fiction by making border crossing reliant on a spacecraft rather than the ability to navigate rivers, deserts, and/or fences.
The script continues on auto-pilot in its casual addition of Foster wanting to stage a coup so she can gain ultimate authority on Elysium, painting William Fichtner as the rich, white owner of the company where Damon is injured, and using Earth-based mercenaries (led by Copley) to protect the interests of the elite. The messages of the film aren’t really being delivered through dialogue on-screen, they’re administered in a series of hammers to the audiences’ heads.
Compounding this problem is Blomkamp’s reliance on using shaky-camera work for every fight. The use of this technique in films has far exceeded its welcome, especially because only a select handful of directors are able to do it well. Here, it’s frustratingly executed and cheapens potentially good action scenes. There are a few good special effects along the way, most notably an energy blast shield Copley uses a few times and some advanced weaponry used by both sides of the conflict, but these added features aren’t enough to off-set the occasional difficulty in keeping your eyes from going cross when trying to stop the on-screen seizures.
There’s a decent amount of promise in Elysium and I wouldn’t say I didn’t enjoy it on some level. In fact, I quite liked Fichtner’s far too brief appearance and enjoyed everything to do with Copley’s performance. It’s just too bad that the depiction of this psychotic mercenary ended up being slightly more comical than intimidating and seemed like it came from a completely different film than the rest of the proceedings.
More significant to the story’s failings are too many complex issues that get short shrift while the movie tries to present itself as meaningful social commentary. While I can understand the appeal of seeing something like this on the big screen, I consider this to be a step back for Blomkamp and hope that his upcoming Chappie will be better executed. It’s also based on one of his short films (Tetra Vaal); District 9 was based on Alive in Joburg. Maybe going back to adaptations rather than writing up a feature from scratch will net better results.
GRADE: C-
Elysium opens in theaters on August 9, 2013 and is rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout.
What does CBGB stand for? Country, Bluegrass and Blues, and CBGB the film is based on the true story of the New York club that helped launch the careers of The Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, and The Police. The cast is led by Alan Rickman and includes Ashley Greene, Malin Akerman, Freddy Rodriguez, Donal Logue, Stana Katic, Rupert Grint, Joel David Moore, Ryan Hurst, Johnny Galecki, Ahna O’Reilly, Richard de Klerk, Mickey Sumner, Taylor Hawkins, and Bradley Whitford.
Jody Savin & Randall Miller co-wrote the script, with Miller directing.
The Plot: CBGB follows the story of Hilly Kristal’s New York club from its origins as Country, Bluegrass and Blues (CBGB) to what it ultimately became: the birthplace of underground rock ‘n roll and punk. Kristal, a fan of Country and Bluegrass dreamed of having a club in the lower Eastside that catered to that kind of music, when he had difficulty booking those bands he turned to other kinds of rock music. Hilly had one demand of the acts he booked, they could only play their own original music. No top 40’s, no covers. It was the credo he lived by, support the artist at whatever the cost.
CBGB‘s heading to theaters later this year featuring a soundtrack that includes songs by New York Dolls, The Stooges, and Dead Boys, and Omnivore Recordings has released the track list for the CBGB: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD and double-LP.
1. LIFE DURING WARTIME – Talking Heads
2. KICK OUT THE JAMS (Uncensored Version) – MC5
3. CHATTERBOX – New York Dolls
4. CAREFUL – Television
5. BLANK GENERATION – Richard Hell & The Voidoids
6. SLOW DEATH – Flamin’ Groovies
7. I CAN’T STAND IT – The Velvet Underground
8. OUT OF CONTROL – Wayne County & The Electric Chairs
9. PSYCHOTIC REACTION – The Count Five
10. ALL FOR THE LOVE OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL (Live) – Tuff Darts
11. ALL BY MYSELF – Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
12. CALIFORNIA SUN (Original Demo) – The Dictators
13. CAUGHT WITH THE MEAT IN YOUR MOUTH – Dead Boys
14. I GOT KNOCKED DOWN (BUT I’LL GET UP) – Joey Ramone
15. GET OUTA MY WAY – The Laughing Dogs
16. SUNDAY GIRL (2013 Version) – Blondie
17. I WANNA BE YOUR DOG – The Stooges
18. SONIC REDUCER – Dead Boys
19. ROXANNE – The Police
20. BIRDS AND THE BEES – Hilly Kristal
