To this day my worst fear is to be set on fire. The idea of dying by slowly roasting is a terrifying thought. Just think of how long it takes to burn alive and let that ill feeling settle down in the pit of your stomach. Or perhaps a sear isn’t your fear factor. Try struggling for breath in a casket. Director Rodrigo Cortés puts this formula to the big screen in his new film Buried.
Where can you see aliens, ninja’s, sorceresses and cowboys all in one place? No it’s not my action figure collection…I don’t have any cowboys. It’s Trailer Tracker, your one stop shop for all the latest clips hitting the web. A slow frame christens the month of October here on Player Affinity, beginning – perhaps ironically – with I Am Number Four, the clip for director Doug Liman’s sci-fi action blockbuster. East meets west in the martial arts western The Warrior’s Way and then Simon Pegg teams with Andy Serkis for a macabre business plan in Burke & Hare. The last new trailer this week is the Shakespearian adaptation The Tempest from visually-dynamic director Julie Taymor following her “Beatles” musical Across the Universe and finally, just one week after the teaser clip for The Coen Brother’s True Grit debuted, we have the riveting theatrical trailer. So grab your lasers, mount your saddle and giddy-up.
David Fincher’s fantastic The Social Network opened this weekend, sporting an impressive 98% Fresh rating on www.rottentomatoes.com and turning the story of Mark Zuckerberg and the creation of Facebook into a tense, well-acted drama. The Information Age has provided us with the world’s youngest billionaires, an updated and revolutionary way of communicating with each other, and a new source of contemporary drama at the movies. The Social Network isn’t the first or the last one of these, though it just might be the best.
Well, you can either be ambitious and try to create a billion-dollar website,or you can start small and predict which five movies will place in the topfive of this weekend’s U.S. domestic box office. It’s that easy. I will makemy own predictions here and explain them to you each week to give yousome sort of reference point. It’s then your job to enter a comment withyour top five.
There have always been socially relevant films, but until the release of The Social Network on Friday, none will have used widespread media/technology as the selling point for their film. This weekend, we’ll know if it worked. And when something new works, everyone wants in. What will be next? Well, there are already plans for a Google movie – shocker – but that could be just the beginning. I had some fun with this idea and created a list of 10 (no particular order) popular technology/socially relevant movie premises that – for better or worse – could be viable if “The Social Network” finds success.
While it can be argued that Ian McKellan is correct when he says kid actors these days are in it for the wrong reasons, with many young actors out there, we (notably myself) at Player Affinity pause to contemplate some of the top young actors (18 and under) that the world has to offer, in an effort to argue not all hope is lost for the next generation.
With the Superman reboot gathering steam and a short-list of directors now on the net, we PAMers are going to analyze the runners and riders. The shortlist contains a interesting range of directors from indie filmmakers to action directors, with some obviously being producer Christopher Nolan’s favored choices though Warner Bros. will have their say. But whoever directs, the Superman has promise because of Nolan producing and David S. Goyer writing the script.
Ahhh, can you smell that? Smells like gold polish, Chanel and sweat — must be the first whiff of Oscar time here on Player Affinity. We begin off the docket this week with trailers two heavily-tipped contenders: The Coen Brothers’ western remake True Grit and the People’s Choice winner at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, The King’s Speech starring Colin Firth. Wild Target finds Emily Blunt and Bill Nighy playing a thief and hitman respectively in the action comedy remake of a French film, and then we take an early peak into the holidays with the live-action adaptation of The Nutcracker. Finally, for a lack of new clips this week we shall take a peak back into the wizarding world with the second trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Grab your quaffles and broomsticks, it’s Trailer Tracker.
This last Friday we were treated to another dose of Oliver Stone’s commentary on the allure and greed of Wall Street. For those who liked the film, there’s another they should check out: 2000’s Boiler Room, written and directed by first time filmmaker Ben Younger.
Gordon Gekko loves a sure thing. And that sure thing is Box Office Wizard. So take a tip from everyone’s favorite sinister millionaire and predict which five movies will place in the top five of this weekend’s U.S. domestic box office chart. I will make my own predictions here and explain them to you each week to give you some sort of reference point. It’s then your job to enter a comment with your top five.
