Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln

Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln
Screen Invasion

“I’ll… free… your… slaves! I’LL FREE THEM ALL!” Okay, we probably shouldn’t expect the eccentric genius of Daniel Day-Lewis’ Oscar winning role in There Will Be Blood, but the acclaimed actor is certain to light to screen this Christmas in Steven Spielberg’s biopic Lincoln. Below is the first official still from the film, and no it doesn’t show him slaying vampires. On a side note, it was also reported today that Day-Lewis never once stepped out of character while on the film’s set. Whether he spent most of that time bemused by the modern technology has not yet been confirmed.

First of…

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Atheists Define Their Worship Center: The Cinema

Atheists Define Their Worship Center: The Cinema
RNS

There were no red carpets, no paparazzi, no celebrities and definitely no God at the recent annual Atheist Film Festival.

Instead, there were more than a dozen films, long and short, about separation of church and state, freedom of religion (and no religion), the conflict between science and religion in public schools and a couple hundred people eager to see them.

“If we don’t do this, who will? said festival organizer Dave Fitzgerald, as people picked up atheist-themed books and T-shirts at the Aug. 10–11 festival. “Atheists are not well-represented by Hollywood, and a lot of people…

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Abrams on Big Budgets

Abrams on Big Budgets
Los Angeles Times

“It is preposterous and embarrassing that movies cost what they do.”

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“I am as interested in and obsessed with what can be done in the feature world for a price as anyone at any studio,” said Abrams, who’s looking to expand Bad Robot’s slate in the coming years. “I feel like it is incumbent upon filmmakers today to treat it like their own money.”

I first became interested in this subject when reading (wait for it, this is really geeky, but since we’re already talking about Star Trek anyway…), “I Am Spock.” In it, Mr. Nimoy talks about the troubles that plagued the big budgeted…

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Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams Team Up for ‘Trouble With The Curve’

Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams Team Up for ‘Trouble With The Curve’
Total Film

It seemed as though he had all but retired after Gran Torino back in 2008, but Clint Eastwood is back on the big screen once more in baseball drama Trouble With The Curve, the first trailer for which has just arrived online.

Eastwood plays a grizzled old baseball scout whose body is beginning to fail him in his old age. When his daughter (Amy Adams) offers to lend a hand on one last scouting trip, Clint grudgingly agrees, only for the two to explore some home truths on their way around the country.

Justin Timberlake drops in for the ride as Adams’ ball-playing love interest while John…

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‘Order Up’ Is No Ordinary Pizza Delivery Story

‘Order Up’ Is No Ordinary Pizza Delivery Story

For all the high expectations we place on feature films it is easy to overlook shorts films stand to impress as well. Independents everywhere are responsible for various production values for TV shows, advertising, and often times are snatched up for new talent at the bigger studios. It’s no wonder that professional independents have a creative itch with simple and clever narratives to tell.

If you love film shorts and what they may inspire for the future of greater filmmaking, you will want to watch this highly creative and fun piece from the developers of the Red Giant film crew.

 

An Intriguing Poster is Revealed for ‘The Master’

An Intriguing Poster is Revealed for ‘The Master’
Total Film

The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson’s long-awaited return to the director’s chair, has released a brand new poster featuring a recurring image of the film’s three leads, Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams.

Whereas the first poster took the form of a chilled wine bottle, this new sheet employs a kind of kaleidoscope design. If that original image alluded to Phoenix’s character’s alcohol problems, perhaps this new one is a reflection of his fragmented state of mind?

Set in the ’50s, the film will focus upon Phoenix’s heavy-drinking drifter, a former military man with a…

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A New Super-spy Goes Rogue in ‘The Bourne Legacy’ — Review

3.5 of 5 stars
A New Super-spy Goes Rogue in ‘The Bourne Legacy’

The Bourne Legacy will come and go without a lot of fanfare, but it’s worth noting there is something almost historic about this additition to the Bourne film series. It may very well be the first time a franchise continues on without its lead character, yet somehow it works the way Bourne Legacy is told. Perhaps it’s because everything else about Bourne Legacy will be relatable for audiences familiar with the Bourne conventions. It’s a serious kind of action thriller that simply works for large audiences.

But a lot of moviegoers are detracted by The Bourne Legacy. It looks like the…

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Film.com Review of ‘Bourne Legacy’

Film.com Review of ‘Bourne Legacy’
Film.com

The emotional stakes have been muted, the romance feels half-hearted and the thematic relevance of the original trilogy has been lowered from a righteous drive to a dull roar. Talented actors like Oscar Isaac, Corey Stoll and the returning Joan Allen and David Strathairn go to waste, and the main plot to take out every assassin seems handily undone when it’s time to introduce an antagonist (Louis Ozawa Changchien), whose capacity for empathy has been dialed down as the rest of his skills have been amped up.

I agree with almost everything in this review. The one thing I disagree with is,…

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Behind-the-scenes with Wreck-it Ralph

Behind-the-scenes with Wreck-it Ralph

I love the behind-the-scenes of an interesting behind-the-scenes sort of film. Wreck-It Ralph is one of these cases.

For a terrific behind-the-scenes scoop, here’s Germain Lussier:

Wreck-It Ralph is the title of the movie and also the main character (Reilly) who for 30 years has been a bad guy inside of an 8-bit video game, Fix It Felix Jr. One day he decides he doesn’t want to be the bad guy anymore and escapes his game into other ones in the arcade, trying to prove he can be a hero. Along the way, he’ll encounter multiple different games, characters and more, which are detailed…

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Roger Ebert on HFR

Roger Ebert on HFR
Roger Ebert’s Journal

There is a kind of one-upmanship going on among the titans of the mega-uber-blockbusters, Jackson and James Cameron—who himself just announced that he plans to shoot “Avatar 2” and the film’s third installment using digital equipment that delivers 60 frames per second. While admiring the LOTR trilogy and “Avatar,” which remains the state of the art in 3D, I believe their expanding ambitions come with risks.

Right, I see it as a sort of abandoning of the story telling craft and instead, exactly as Ebert says, trying to one up each other on technological prowess. Good technology is…

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