movies – News Stories About movies - Page 82

Father Upset by Rape Scene in Kite Runner

Sep 18, 2007 5:29 PM CDT

Father Upset by Rape Scene in Kite Runner

Dad of Afghan actor afraid film will ignite anger against his family

(Newser) - The father of an actor in a film adaptation of The Kite Runner is worried about a pivotal rape scene and wants it nixed, the BBC reports. The production features Afghans in many roles, and the boy actor's father, Ahmad Jaan, is concerned that the movie could unleash sectarian anger...

Jodie Hits #1 With a Bullet

Sep 16, 2007 2:00 PM CDT

Jodie Hits #1 With a Bullet

The Brave One ranks first at the weekend box office, but fails to meet expectations

(Newser) - Jodie Foster's The Brave One ranked number one with a bullet this weekend at $13.5 million, although it failed to meet studio expectations, reports Deadline Hollywood Daily. Critic Nikki Finke laments the film's reviews and marketing, but applauds Foster as a rare actress able to open a hit movie....

Philip K. Dick
Is Ready for His Closeup Now

Sep 16, 2007 7:18 AM CDT

Philip K. Dick Is Ready for His Closeup Now

In death, troubled sci-fi writer is darling of Hollywood

(Newser) - Sci fi writer Philip K. Dick died paranoid, impoverished, and obscure. But since his death in 1982, nine movies have been based on his novels—including Blade Runner, Minority Report, and Total Recall—-and interest in his work , eerily prescient of the digital age, has never been higher.

Tarantino Recuts Flop for Euro Release

Sep 15, 2007 6:30 AM CDT

Tarantino Recuts Flop for Euro Release

'Grindhouse' is now violent, chatty chick flick 'Death Proof'

(Newser) - Quentin Tarantino has taken the first flop of his career, the violent schlock-fest Grindhouse, and shaved it down to a lean slasher-film with a lot of girl talk and car chases tossed in. Death Proof, the story of a Texas DJ and her posse, has done well in France,...

'70s Vigilantes Take '07 in Hands

Sep 14, 2007 6:51 PM CDT

'70s Vigilantes Take '07 in Hands

New slate of vigilante films in era that mirrors '70s anxiety

(Newser) - Our era of economic upheaval and political powerlessness mirrors that of the 1970s, and now we’re getting our own silver screen vigilantes to clean up the mess. Everyman killers like Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle took action when the system wouldn’t, says Slate, and this season “vengeance...

Affleck Flick Won't Run in UK

Sep 14, 2007 5:59 PM CDT

Affleck Flick Won't Run in UK

Gone Baby Gone plot closely resembles story of missing Madeleine McCann

(Newser) - Ben Affleck's directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, won't open in the UK because of eerie similarities between the film and the disappearance of British 4-year-old Madeleine McCann, Variety reports. Affleck said it has been withheld out of concern for the McCann connection. A film release, he noted, "is just...

'Elah' Bares Iraq Rage, Sorrow

Sep 14, 2007 8:50 AM CDT

'Elah' Bares Iraq Rage, Sorrow

Critics hail 'lacerating' murder probe that lays bare social scars

(Newser) - "In The Valley of Elah," a murder mystery with an Iraq war vet veteran as the victim, is “a raw, angry, earnest attempt to grasp the moral consequences of the war,” writes A.O. Scott of the Times. He's one of several critics who hail the...

Dude Looks
Like a Lady

Sep 13, 2007 11:04 AM CDT

Dude Looks Like a Lady

Move over, Cate Blanchett: A list of the best cross-dressers on the big screen

(Newser) - Inspired by Cate Blanchett's best-actress award at the Venice Film festival for I'm Not There, in which she plays Bob Dylan, Entertainment Weekly notes other memorable big-screen cross-dressers:

John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, Hairspray
Divine as Babs Johnson, Pink Flamingos
The Kids in the Hall
Dustin Hoffman as Michael Dorsey/Dorothy

...

Here's to You, Mrs. Robinson, 40 Years Later

Sep 12, 2007 2:46 AM CDT

Here's to You, Mrs. Robinson, 40 Years Later

Anniversary marks movie that spoke to a generation

(Newser) - It seemed destined to be an art house anachronism. The director was inexperienced, the lead actor unknown and apparently miscast, the score cobbled together. The result, however, was one of the seminal works in the history of American cinema, "The Graduate. " As the 40th anniverary DVD is released,...

Dreamgirls Star Joins Sex and the City Cast

Sep 11, 2007 6:43 AM CDT

Dreamgirls Star Joins Sex and the City Cast

Oscar winner Hudson jumps in to play Carrie's assistant

(Newser) - Dreamgirls star Jennifer Hudson is joining the cast of Sex and the City: The Movie as Carrie Bradshaw's assistant, reports Variety. The Oscar-winning actress and former "American Idol" contestant is set to begin filming this month in New York with the stars of the TV series, which ended in...

'Yuma' Rustles Up Movie Fans

Sep 10, 2007 4:35 AM CDT

'Yuma' Rustles Up Movie Fans

Western lassos top spot and $14.1M in opening weekend

(Newser) - The '"3:10 to Yuma" pulled into the station $14.1 richer at the end of its opening weekend, a typically soft post-Labor Day figure. The Western beat out Rob Zombie’s swiftly declining "Halloween" remake for the top spot. Slower on the draw was "Shoot 'Em...

Format Wars Rage in High Definition

Sep 9, 2007 12:59 PM CDT

Format Wars Rage in High Definition

Blu-ray and HD DVD slug it out to become next-gen movie media

(Newser) - Meet the new VHS and Betamax. It’s unclear who’s winning consumer tech’s latest format wars, the Economist explains, but both Blu-ray and HD DVD claim to be the high-def successor to the DVD. The cheaper HD DVD sells more stand-alone players, but Blu-ray sells more disks and...

Critics Riding High on Western
'3:10 to Yuma'

Sep 7, 2007 6:47 AM CDT

Critics Riding High on Western '3:10 to Yuma'

Remake is fast paced, well acted, but ending is 'murky'

(Newser) - Critics are saddling up for "3:10 to Yuma," a remake of a Western that “moves like a barn on fire,” according to Newsday’s Jan Stuart. It's director James Mangold's "most sustained and evocative work," touts the New Yorker. The morally nuanced film...

Iraq War Pics Win Fans at Venice Festival

Sep 5, 2007 10:55 AM CDT

Iraq War Pics Win Fans at Venice Festival

De Palma's Redacted and Jones vehicle Elah generate critical buzz

(Newser) - Films about the Iraq war are hits at the Venice Film Festival, Reuters reports. One critic calls Brian De Palma's Redacted, about the rape of an Iraqi girl by US soldiers, "truly a blow to the stomach." Others tout In the Valley of Elah, starring Tommy Lee Jones...

Halloween Slashes the Competition

Sep 2, 2007 4:36 PM CDT

Halloween Slashes the Competition

Spooks Superbad out of top spot as moviegoers cap record summer

(Newser) - Moviegoers basked in the glow of Halloween a month early this year, shocking the movie biz by capping the fastest $4 billion in Hollywood summer history. Rob Zombie’s horror remake topped the weekend box office with a record $26.5 million, scaring two-time champ Superbad out of first place...

Critics Paddle Balls of Fury

Aug 31, 2007 4:47 AM CDT

Critics Paddle Balls of Fury

Lame ping-pong comedy lacks bounce, reviewers grumble

(Newser) - Balls of Fury is barely getting it over the net, according to most critics, who find the ping-pong-meets-martial-arts comedy lifeless and unfunny. “It's the kind of comedy that finds Asian people hi-lar-ious because they're...Asian. (Are you laughing yet?)," writes Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman.

Owen Wilson Drops Out of Next Movie

Aug 29, 2007 3:41 PM CDT

Owen Wilson Drops Out of Next Movie

Drugs, heartbreak may have been behind suicide attempt

(Newser) - Owen Wilson won’t appear in Tropic Thunder after an alleged suicide attempt that's made the actor tabloid fodder, Fox News reports. Wilson was to join the production next week in Hawaii but has struck a “mutual agreement” with director Ben Stiller. The news comes on the heels of...

Can Keanu Outact a Robot?

Aug 27, 2007 4:49 PM CDT

Can Keanu Outact a Robot?

Whoa— Day the Earth Stood Still remake scores Matrix star

(Newser) - Keanu Reeves is coming back to sci-fi—the Matrix star will play the mysterious alien Klaatu in an upcoming remake of 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still, Variety reports. In the original, Klaatu threatened Earth with destruction if humans didn't stop fighting amongst themselves. No word yet on the...

'Superbad' Still Has Soul at Box Office

Aug 26, 2007 2:39 PM CDT

'Superbad' Still Has Soul at Box Office

Out-laughs the competition for second week; highest-grossing debut is 'Mr. Bean'

(Newser) - Movie fans are filling the last week before school starts by going to the flicks their friends liked: “Superbad,” “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Rush Hour 3” kept drawing them in with the top 3 spots this week. Rowan Atkinson's “Mr. Bean's Holiday” took surprise swipes...

Ang Lee's 'Lust' Too Hot for Hollywood

Aug 25, 2007 1:45 PM CDT

Ang Lee's 'Lust' Too Hot for Hollywood

Ratings group slaps 'Brokeback' director's new flick with NC-17

(Newser) - Focus Features says it will stand by Ang Lee and his racy new war flick “Lust, Caution,” even though a movie trade group branded the film NC-17. The film industry's Scarlet Letter could cost the pic audiences, ad dollars, and theater distribution, but Focus CEO James Schamus said...