Screenwriter: Alex Gibney (The Trials of Henry Kissinger)
Director: Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room)
Actors: Hunter S. Thompson, Pat Buchanan, and Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest)

Labels: documentary, film, Johnny Depp, movie trailer

Welcome to this edition of the Carnival of Cinema, a week;y collection of the web's best cinema-related posts. Each week we compile great film reviews, cinema commentary and industry advice.


This week, we have a load of posts about what's happening down at your local multiplex. To start, we're going to take a look at WALL-E, a film that has been getting raves across the board from critics.


Julie D. from HAPPY CATHOLIC starts this out with her look at the animated robot. She states that it is "a celebration of what makes life worth living"


Really? It celebrates German beer and American football?


Next on the WALL-E bandwagon is Newman. He considers it to be a masterpiece. A cartoon about a lonely robot a masterpiece? How does that happen? Head over to NEWMAN'S OWN MOVIE COVER to find out.




Another big movie currently lighting up screens is Wanted.


Sarah McClellan-Brandt of FORT WORTH FEMINISM has seen the film and says its an "OK movie, but a little sexist."

Apparently, Angelia Jolie character gets paid ten percent less for assassinating bad guys than James McAvoy's and Morgan Freeman keeps making jokes about how she can't drive.


For another look at Wanted, 7MILESDOWN's Trench takes a gander at the flick and decides that you don't need a story if you've got action.


Tell that to Steven Seagal.


Released last month, K.S. Ravikumar's Dasavatharam gets reviewed over at SIZZLING POPCORN by Jean Brunet.


For those of you Woody Allen fans out there, Liz McD reviews his film Casandra's Dream over on her site INDUSTRIAL LIGHT AND MORONS.


INDUSTRIAL LIGHT AND MORONS, I like that blog title.


Not everything is happiness and full of cheer at the box office.


Something stinky this way comes...


M. Night Shamalamadingdong's The Happening ain't what's happening according to Rickey Henderson. Rickey has sat through the ironically titled film so you don't have to. To read all about it, head over to RIDING WITH RICKEY.


The normally, very jovial MANNY THE MOVIE GUY has cited Hancock as being Will Smith's worst movie. Don't any of you tell Manny about Wild, Wild, West.


If you have a hankering for documentary about a gun-totting, drug using, loud mouthed anarchist who killed himself then Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson is your ticket. Agnes Varnum has a review of the film over at DOC IT OUT.


Let's take a look to the future.


The Dark Knight is set to hit theaters soon. TODAY'S SHENANIGANS' Alex Villalba says "it is time to take a look at some of the influences from Batman Begins and possible ones for The Dark Knight, from biblical literature, Greek myth and classic films."


It's not all just reviews here at the Carnival. There's more going on than just Hollywood squatting out another cinematic load into the multiplexes.


Conan Stevens and his partner Ray are working on a new action film. He explains how they're going about it and has great advice for those of you low-budget filmmakers out there trying to make a go of it. Head over to TALL BODYBUILDING ACTOR - CONAN STEVENS to read what he has to say.


And now for more independent filmmaking...

Next, Gautam Valluri has an interview with first time filmmaker Justin Calen Chiang. Justin shares the story behind the making of his first feature film The Way of Snow. Read the interview on THE BROKEN PROJECTOR.


Closing up the shop this week, Steve continues his look at the decline of the movie theater industry. This time out he writes about a a nebulous "cinema experience" that is being used to draw in viewers. He has this and more over at SOCIAL TRIVIA GAMES.





Thanks to everyone for their submissions.


Next week the Carnival of Cinema will go on the road. Joe Ngo of INTERMISSION AT WORK will host the Carnival on his site. Thanks to Joe for taking the wheel.




Other carnival editions:
Carnival of Cinema: Episode 78
Carnival of Cinema: Episode 79
Carnival of Cinema: Episode 80

Labels: Carnival of Cinema, film, links

Labels: film, movie review, Norman Jewison, racism, Rod Steiger, Sidney Poitier

It is very slow and mopey but it still manages to hold some interest. This certainly isn’t Oscar material but it does much with its meek story about a gang of blue collar guys who have a frightening run in with a UFO. The final act of the film holds some unnerving scenes which pretty much make up for the low tone of the rest of the piece. D.B. Sweeney and Robert Patrick offer some good performances. If you see it on cable, its worth checking out.


Related Reviews:
Alien movies
Cocoon (1985)
War of the Worlds (2005)


Other Critic's Reviews:
FilmCritic.com
Roger Ebert

Labels: D.B. Sweeney, film, movie review, Peter Berg, Robert Patrick, science fiction, UFO

The original The Day the Earth Stood Still was flawed in many areas, but it delivered the goods. It is one my list of favorite sci-fi flicks. The film tells the story of an alien who comes to Earth to warn us that we don't stop fighting aliens would step in and destroy us for their own safety - kind of a "do as I say, not as I do" proposition. This was done with one of the clearest uses of a Christ figure in cinematic history.

Today, since everything needs to be "re-envisioned", there's a new version coming our way.

In the old days Hollywood was doing what it could to answer the threat of international communism by equating both sides of the Cold War. This time, since the good guys won the Cold War, there needs to be a new enemy. I heard early on that since the Hollywood leftists have recast themselves from being secretly red to being in-your-face Greens, the bad guy is now humanity because we don't recycle enough. That's right good ol' Global Cooling....er, Warming...er, Climate Change. That's right, the alien comes down to tell us that we don't start treating Mother Earth better, they're going to kill us.

If you're not already doing it, this is where you should be groaning.

This trailer certainly appears to support that rumor. The alien Klaatu (played by Keanu Reeves - it seems the production is not focusing on great performances), apparently refers to himself as a "friend of the Earth" and the final line of the trailer he says "If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth survives". At least the greens are starting to get around to their actual agenda - kill that pesky cancer known as mankind.

To everyone who agrees with that last line, all I have to say is:

You first.






Screenwriter: David Scarpa (The Last Castle)
Director: Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose)
Actors: Keanu Reeves (The Matrix), Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), Kathy Bates (At Play in the Fields of the Lord), John Cleese (A Fish Called Wanda), and Jaden Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)

Labels: film, global warming, Jaden Smith, Jennifer Connelly, John Cleese, Keanu Reeves, movie trailer, Scott Derrickson

Screenwriters: Sherwood Kiraly and Doug Bost
Director: Terry Kinney
Actors: Matthew Broderick (The Stepford Wives), Virginia Madsen (Sideways), Alan Alda (The Aviator), Dylan Baker (Planes, Trains & Automobiles) and Louis C.K.

Labels: Alan Alda, Dylan Baker, film, Matthew Broderick, movie trailer, Virginia Madsen

This is supposed to be stupid, so complaining that this is dumb is redundant. I guess the best way to put it is that its dumber than it wants to be. This is, by any definition, a poorly made movie. Even giving it the low expectations it begs for, this film still fails in a pathetic display of sloppy writing, amateurish direction and confused acting.

This production was clearly built around the one-trick pony (but its a great trick) Will Ferrell. But like Blades of Glory, there is little development to maintain a full movie. Ferrell expends his comedic arsenal in his introduction and wanders the rest of the film struggling through seemingly random events that are quickly set up and sputter to their resolutions. Saturday Night Live skits normally begin with the premise and then quickly bottom out, leaving the actors to run through their unfunny lines until they arrive at the forced ending of the bit. This movie is ninety minutes of that uncomfortable feeling SNL offers of performers putting their time in as an unfunny skit runs itself out. All this amounts to is watching actors spew filthy lines that they know aren't funny - doesn't sound like too much fun does it?

Trust me, the Old Spice ads the marketing of this film produced are 1000% funnier than the film. If you've seen those ads, count it is being close enough and skip seeing the movie.


Related Reviews:
Will Ferrell movies
Elf (2003)
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Film Babble Blog
Ill-Informed Gadfly

Labels: basketball, comedy, sports, Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson

A bunch of meddling upper middle-class kids create a refuge for stray dogs. Parents and other authority figures don't like the idea - hilarity ensues. I'm sure the homeless appreciate the concept of this film.

If this kind of thing floats your boat, rush to see it when it comes out, I don't think it will be in theaters too long.



Screenwriter: Jeff Lowell (John Tucker Must Die)
Director: Thor Freudenthal (Monkey Business)
Actors: Emma Roberts (Nancy Drew), Lisa Kudrow (PS: I Love You), Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), and Kevin Dillon (Platoon)

Labels: Don Cheadle, Emma Roberts, film, Lisa Kudrow, movie trailer