Carancho
02.11.2011 | By Jack Rico |
02.10.2011 | By Jack Rico |
New York (USA), February 10 (ShowBizCafe.com) – Michael Cera, one of the most popular young actors in Hollywood, will head to Chile to film a movie completely spoken in Spanish with Chilean director Sebastián Silva (The Maid) very soon.
The news has surprised more than one, including us. The revelation came at the hands of Puerto Rican filmmaker Miguel Arteta, who directed him in the very funny and intellectually stimulating ‘Youth in Revolt’. According to the director, Cera is in intensive Spanish classes. “He’s spending six hours a day to learn Spanish. He follows his own heart,” says Arteta who was quoted by the website The Playlist.
The criticisms on Michael Cera, whose last film was ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,’ is that he always plays the same character over and over again. This high concept project would give him the opportunity to shock the industry and prove his versatility. However, asking an actor who has never spoken Spanish, to be fluent in a language that is not his for the duration of an entire film, is perhaps asking too much. The expectations are tremendous and the pressure to not ruin the language or puncture the ears of the Latino audience is enormous.
Cera is not the first comic talent to cross-over to the Hispanic world. Will Ferrell has already agreed to act in the soap opera parody ‘Casa de mi Padre’ with Mexican icons Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal. Let’s hope for the best that these projects are quality comedies worthy of attracting more attention to the US Hispanic landscape.
02.8.2011 | By Jack Rico |
Rated: PG-13 for sexual content, partial nudity, language and some drug material.
Release Date: 2010-09-10
Starring: Galt Niederhoffer
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: http://www.theromanticsmovie.com/
02.8.2011 | By Mack Chico |
After a few films in Hollywood, Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan) will now direct a new movie based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Warner Bros. is close to getting the rights to ‘Harker,’ which will focus on the story of the character of Jonathan Harker, now a Scotland Yard detective.
The Spanish filmmaker could be joining Appian Way, Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company to direct ‘Harker’. The premise of the movie follows Harker, hot on the trail of Dracula.
Warner Bros. seems to have already shown interest in the project which has many rooting for it to become a franchise.
The screenplay was written by Brian McGreevy and Lee Shipman, two screenwriting neophytes.
Collet-Serra is waiting February 18th to release ‘Unknown,’ where Liam Neeson plays a doctor who awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him. With the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is.
02.7.2011 | By Jack Rico |
Comic actor Ed Helms, known mostly for his work in 2009’s super hit ‘The Hangover’ and NBC’s The Office, was in New York to promote his new, very funny comedy, ‘Cedar Rapids’, coming out this Friday, and I caught up with him to ask him about his days living in New York trying to make it on the sketch comedy show, Saturday Night Live. Helms, who grew up in Atlanta, always dreamed of being discovered and landing a spot in the cast of SNL.
ShowBizCafe.com: Your dream has always been to be a part of SNL, but you are now achieving enough celebrity status to possibly host the show one of these days. Where would that moment rank amongst all your achievements?
Ed Helms: (Chuckle) Well, ah, I’d rather not, it’d be you know, that would just be epic. That would be really, really exciting and awesome. Hasn’t happened… yet and if it and when it does, I would be over the moon.
ShowBizCafe.com: If you had to pick a musical guest to accompany you on that special night, who would it be?
Ed Helms: (12 second pause) Hmmmm…. Paul Simon is inextricably linked with that show. He has such a history with Lorne Michaels, that would be… his music was such an important part of my adolescence. That might actually take the cake.
Here’s to you Ed. I hope your dreams come true very soon. Helms will next be seen on the sequel of The Hangover and The Muppets this year.
02.5.2011 | By Jack Rico |
‘The Roommate’ starring Minka Kelly and Leighton Meester, should be considered an official remake of Barbet Schroeder’s 1992 hit, ‘Single White Female’. Its plot, a roommate with a mental disorder who wants to look and be just like her friend, are almost identical. This new remake version, perhaps intended for a younger female audience, is unexceptional. It fails to improve upon the original, from its acting to the dialogue to the direction, it might as well have been sent straight to DVD, or Lifetime. But because its two female leads are so beautiful and sexy, it unapologetically slips into the realm of guilty pleasure.
The premise of ‘The Roommate’ is slightly different than the ‘SWF’. Sara Matthews (Minka Kelly) a new college student is assigned to room with Rebecca (Leighton Meester), a rich, pretty girl who unbeknownst to Sara, suffers from a personality disorder. As time passes by, their relationship grows stronger and Rebecca becomes more possessive of her friend. Little by little we see her eliminate all the things that make Sara unhappy until her ‘good’ intentions become too dangerous to ignore.
Yes, it is true that the script has no surprises or twists worth being excited about, the direction of Christian E. Christiansen is trite and worthy of Lifetime’s top 10 best, and the thrills are stale and flat, but Roommate’s sexiness and attractive cast, are hard to knock. As a result, the ‘bad’ aspects are amusing and you just go along with it waiting for another hottie to get killed or pummeled.
Whether it is a coincidence or just deliberate casting, Kelly and Meester look like twin sisters, Meester looking a tad younger. Nevertheless, it works specially well when Meester ‘becomes’ Sara in the final stretch of the film.
All in all, ‘The Roommate’ is a forgettable film, but it is never so bad that it sinks to the point of you walking out. People will laugh and enjoy the bad brushing it off as cheap escapism on a good, fun Saturday night out with the ladies.
02.1.2011 | By Jack Rico |
‘Sanctum’ IMAX 3D is a survival action thriller that, although conceptually intriguing, never delivers a payoff that satisfies the pocket or the 3D experience it boasts about.
James Cameron executive produces this story, based on real events, of a team of underwater cave divers on a treacherous expedition to the largest, most beautiful and least accessible cave system on Earth. When a tropical storm forces them deep into the caverns, they must fight raging water, deadly terrain and creeping panic as they search for an unknown escape route to the sea. Master diver Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh) has explored the South Pacific’s Esa-ala Caves for months. But when his exit is cut off in a flash flood, Frank’s team-including 17-year-old son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) and financier Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd) are forced to radically alter plans. With dwindling supplies, the crew must navigate an underwater labyrinth to make it out. Soon, they are confronted with the unavoidable question: Can they survive, or will they be trapped forever?
These types of movies aren’t new to the screen. The 70’s were famous for their disaster films such as The Poseidon Adventure, When Time Ran Out, and the Oscar nominated The Towering Inferno amongst others, with the focus on the characters’ attempts to avert, escape or cope with the disaster and its aftermath. Then there was a resurgence in the mid to late 90’s with films such as Stallone’s Daylight, the remake Poseidon and The Ghost Ship.
The premise of Sanctum is as interesting and absorbing as anything out so far this early 2011. The fact that Cameron is involved and that it was shot in 3D, and it would be released in IMAX, are all great bait to a story that is high on bad acting, recycled and cliched dialogue (“What could possibly go wrong with…” insert bad joke here) and cheap visual effects. The film was shot on a budget of 30 million dollars, not the 237 million dollars Cameron spent on Avatar. Australian director Alister Grierson, who never handled a 3D camera before in his life, is directing only his second picture, and perhaps, gave to some of the B like quality of the movie. You know it wasn’t Cameron. ‘Sanctum’ was not shot in film and it’s obvious, specially when it’s juxtaposed to special effects rendering sequences of caves. However, credit must be given to anyone who is directing underwater for half of the movie. That sounds like a tough task. The 3D experience was subpar for me. I had a chance to see the film in an IMAX 3D theater and I noticed that the sound was off. It sounded far away instead of next to you like most IMAX films. I also had some problems with the IMAX glasses, different than regular 3D glasses. The light of the film kept on penetrating the darkness of my glasses producing an irritable sensation for some key scenes. I had to keep on swiveling my head to find a point where it didn’t bother me. Was it the glasses? No. I changed them just to make sure. This happened occasionally, but nevertheless, it didn’t happen to me when I went to see Tron: Legacy in December. When it comes to 3D experiences in an IMAX theater it’s hard to say Sanctum was an experience. Between sound and imagery, it failed to mesmerize the senses.
Also perforating my ears was the dialogue from John Garvin and Andrew Wight. I don’t know which one was more at fault. When one is watching the characters onscreen trying to survive a disaster and they are engulfed by the ocean itself, all there is left to entertain you is great acting and engaging dialogue to get you through the events. This was not the case here as trite, cornball words were the du jour of the day. Seriously, it was awful. Aside from the dialogue, the rest of the film had its hits and misses. Some of the highlights were the sights of the cave, the underwater sequence shots, and the acting of Richard Roxburgh who should be Stellan Skarsgård’s twin brother. The pacing of the first 40 minutes took its time to build, introduce and flesh out the characters properly. It establishes some of the forth coming problems we are about to witness and lays out the villains and heroes of the movie. This is well done and it manages to hold some interest while it lasts. Right after that, in act II, the movie begins to introduce the lousy acting and dialogue into the action scenes. Interestingly enough, in the 70’s, disaster films were always cast with heavy weight actors which gave credibility to what you were watching unfold. Overall, this is a B cast, excluding veteran actors Richard Roxburgh and Ion Gruffudd. The level of mediocre acting is typical of what one associates with the genre. The dramatic moments are cheesy and painful to watch, specially the father and son scenes. Wakefield’s character mostly, is a vexing figure throughout the whole film. He possesses a very righteous personality, that combined with his histrionic acting, results in aggravating viewing. The tension is paltry at best, perhaps because there are no monsters, killer sharks, hungry piranhas or ravenous crocodiles. I thought there would be an unknown creature lurking in the murky and cold below. The soundtrack also didn’t do a good job of creating the suspenseful atmosphere.
Ultimately, Sanctum didn’t live up to expectations. With the high rise of 3D and IMAX tickets, this experience perhaps does belong in the deep unexplored bottoms of the Earth.
01.31.2011 | By Jack Rico |
LOS ANGELES (Jan. 30, 2011) – Screen Actors Guild presented its coveted Actor® statuette for the outstanding motion picture and prmetime television performances of 2010 at the “17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®” in ceremonies attended by film and television’s leading actors, held Sunday, Jan. 30, at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center. The “17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®” was simulcast live coast-to-coast by TNT and TBS at 8 p.m.
Voting procedures to choose the recipients were sent to the nearly 100,000 active members of Screen Actors Guild nationwide. Morgan Freeman presented Ernest Borgnine with Screen Actors Guild’s highest honor, the 47th Annual Life Achievement Award, following a filmed tribute introduced by Tim Conway.
Honored with individual awards were Christian Bale, Colin Firth, Melissa Leo and Natalie Portman for performances in motion pictures and Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Claire Danes, Julianna Margulies, Al Pacino, and Betty White for performances in television. Screen Actors Guild originated awards for the outstanding performances by a motion picture cast and by television drama and comedy ensembles. The Actor® for a motion picture cast performance went this year to “The King’s Speech”, while the Actors® for television drama and comedy ensemble performances went this year to “Boardwalk Empire” and “Modern Family.” Screen Actors Guild’s honors for outstanding performances by a stunt ensemble in film and television were awarded to “Inception” and “True Blood.”
Dennis Haysbert introduced a lively film montage that saluted actors who perform in commercials. Hillary Swank introduced a filmed “In Memoriam” tribute to the actors who have passed away in the past year.
PEOPLE magazine and the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) hosted the Screen Actors Guild Post-Awards Gala for the 15th year. This exclusive event, immediately following the SAG Awards on the back lot of the Shrine Exposition Center, honors the philanthropic causes and good works of the members of the Screen Actors Guild. The gala benefits the SAG Foundation, which just celebrated its 25th year of service to the public and the acting community.
The “17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®” is a presentation of Jeff Margolis Productions in association with Screen Actors Guild Awards®, LLC. Jeff Margolis is the executive producer and director. Kathy Connell is the producer. JoBeth Williams, Daryl Anderson, Scott Bakula, Shelley Fabares and Paul Napier are producers for SAG. Gloria Fujita O’Brien and Mick McCullough are supervising producers. Stephen Pouliot is the writer. Benn Fleishman is executive in charge of production. For more information about the SAG Awards, SAG, TNT and TBS visit sagawards.org/about.
The complete list of recipients of the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® follows:
17th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS® RECIPIENTS
THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
COLIN FIRTH / King George VI – “THE KING’S SPEECH” (The Weinstein Company)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
NATALIE PORTMAN / Nina Sayers – “BLACK SWAN” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
CHRISTIAN BALE / Dicky Eklund – “THE FIGHTER” (Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
MELISSA LEO / Alice Ward – “THE FIGHTER” (Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media)
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
THE KING’S SPEECH (The Weinstein Company)
ANTHONY ANDREWS / Stanley Baldwin
HELENA BONHAM CARTER / Queen Elizabeth
JENNIFER EHLE / Myrtle Logue
COLIN FIRTH / King George VI
MICHAEL GAMBON / King George V
DEREK JACOBI / Archbishop Cosmo Lang
GUY PEARCE / King Edward VIII
GEOFFREY RUSH / Lionel Logue
TIMOTHY SPALL / Winston Churchill
PRIMETIME TELEVISION
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
AL PACINO / Jack Kevorkian – “YOU DON’T KNOW JACK” (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
CLAIRE DANES / Temple Grandin – “TEMPLE GRANDIN” (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
STEVE BUSCEMI / Nucky Thompson – “BOARDWALK EMPIRE” (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
JULIANNA MARGULIES / Alicia Florrick – “THE GOOD WIFE” (CBS)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – “30 ROCK” (NBC)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
BETTY WHITE / Elka Ostrovsky – “HOT IN CLEVELAND” (TV Land)
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO)
GREG ANTONACCI / Johnny Torrio
STEVE BUSCEMI / Nucky Thompson
DABNEY COLEMAN / Commodore Louis Kaestner
PAZ DE LA HUERTA / Lucy Danzinger
STEPHEN GRAHAM / Al Capone
ANTHONY LACIURA / Eddie Kessler
KELLY MACDONALD / Margaret Schroeder
GRETCHEN MOL / Gillian Darmody
ALEKSA PALLADINO / Angela Darmody
VINCENT PIAZZA / Lucky Luciano
MICHAEL PITT / Jimmy Darmody
MICHAEL SHANNON / Agent Nelson Van Alden
PAUL SPARKS / Mickey Doyle
MICHAEL STUHLBARG / Arnold Rothstein ERIK WEINER / Agent Sebso
SHEA WHIGHAM / Sheriff Elias Thompson
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
JULIE BOWEN / Claire Dunphy
TY BURRELL / Phil Dunphy
JESSE TYLER FERGUSON / Mitchell Pritchett
NOLAN GOULD / Luke Dunphy
SARAH HYLAND / Haley Dunphy
ED O’NEILL / Jay Pritchett
RICO RODRIGUEZ / Manny Delgado
ERIC STONESTREET / Cameron Tucker
SOFIA VERGARA / Gloria Delgado-Pritchett
ARIEL WINTER / Alex Dunphy
SAG HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
INCEPTION (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
TRUE BLOOD (HBO)
LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Screen Actors Guild Awards 47th Annual Life Achievement Award
Ernest Borgnine
01.30.2011 | By Jack Rico |
The torch has been officially been passed from Brandon Routh to the brit Henry Cavill as he becomes the most recognizable superhero of all time – Superman. According to Deadline.com, Cavill will don the cape and the red and blue tights under director Zack Snyder and producer Christopher Nolan and writer David S. Goyer. Those three sound like they’ll be making magic together with their newly minted thespian.
Cavill, 27, is currently working on Immortals where he plays the he-man Greek warrior Theseus who battles mythological gods. He’s mostly known for his TV work in Showtime’s The Tudors and Cavill.
Zack Snyder, released this statement: “In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time, and I am honored to be a part of his return to the big screen. I also join Warner Bros., Legendary and the producers in saying how excited we are about the casting of Henry. He is the perfect choice to don the cape and S shield.”
According to some sources, The Social Network’s Armie Hammer, who played Tyler Winklevoss, along with True Blood’s Joe Manganiello, were strong candidates.
The new Superman is targeted for release in December 2012.
01.30.2011 | By Jack Rico |
Spanish actor and current Oscar nominee Javier Bardem, has been offered a starring role as the lead villain in the upcoming James Bond film, Bond #23, recently set for a November 9, 2012, release.
This has been a great month for Bardem who is a new father, was nominated for the third time for an Oscar as Best Actor in ‘Biutiful,’ and was also offered the lead role in ‘Dark Tower’ from director Ron Howard.
Daniel Craig will be returning as the legendary British secret agent, with Sam Mendes directing a screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan. No plot details are currently available, but the story begins after Quantum Of Solace leaves off.
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