Finally, some advertising I can get behind for Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming flick, “Inglourious Basterds”.  I’ve been bitching about how Mélanie Laurent and Christoph Waltz have been getting neglected even though one is the main lead and one is the main villain.  Folks are gonna feel tricked if they go in expecting The Brad Pitt Show and he’s only one part of the movie.  Posters like these say “You don’t know who these actors are but their characters are going to be important.”

And while those “So and So Is a Basterd” posters aren’t bad, I dig these new posters [via Empire] more.  They’ve got better colors, they show off more personality, and they even have a little tiny quote, which isn’t bad considering that one of the reasons you go to a Quentin Tarantino flick is for the memorable dialogue.  I hope we get some cool posters like this state-side but chances are that our final “Basterds” poster is just going to be Brad Pitt’s giant, floating, smirking head.

Hit the jump to see smaller versions of the posters and either click here or on the image below to see them individually and embiggened.  “Inglourious Basterds” hits theatres on August 21st.

The official Comic-Con website has just announced what exclusive collector’s items will be available at this year’s convention so collectors can begin scouting what they want to buy, who they may need to trample, and how much ridiculous mark-up can they sell the items for on eBay to hapless souls who couldn’t afford to make it to San Diego (or were just too late to buy passes) but can afford to slap down $400 for a $20 Angry Stay-Puft Coin Bank.

But I’ll admit there are some fun looking items that will be floating around the Con.  I dig the Stay Puft-Venkman mini-mates, the Little Big Planet Sackboy from Mezco, and the Silver Astronaut Snoopy because WHY NOT.  Of course, I will likely end up with none of these toys (yes, they’re toys; all of these things are toys unless they’re t-shirts) as some hardcore collector will have smashed through the hordes of attendees so he can have the pleasure of breaking-even on his flight and hotel by selling the over-priced item.  That is the way of the Con.

Click here to see all of this year’s exclusives.  The 2009 San Diego Comic-Con will run from July 23rd to the 26th with a special “Preview Night” for 4-Day pass-holders on July 22nd.

Imagine if San Diego Comic-Con had a younger teenage sister and she liked to play dress up. That would be my best analogy for what I witnessed today at the Los Angeles Convention Center as I attended my first Anime Convention. Also, unlike Comic-Con, which is now impossible to walk around on the convention floor, today’s anime convention was easy to navigate.

The first thing that struck me was the enthusiasm of everyone there. I’d say thirty to forty percent were wearing costumes. And not just attendees, as dealers were also wearing and selling costumes. If you’re into anime and live in Los Angeles, I’d definitely stop by and look around (if you’re not there already).

More pictures and info after the jump:

Also, the other thing that struck me was the amount of women that attended today’s show. If you’re a single guy and into anime and not socially awkward, for the love of God go to the Los Angeles Convention Center. I’m serious. Tell them Steve sent you. Anyway, here are a ton of pictures of the convention and Cosplayers  (costumed attendees).

And one last thing, I’ve been to San Diego Comic-Con many times and today felt like what Comic-Con must have been like before it went corporate and got Hollywood Studios as sponsors. It felt very independent and relaxed. Again, if you’re in the area, I’d stop by.

For more info, try this link: www.anime-expo.org. Here’s all the photos in our new image gallery. You can either have it go from picture to picture via our flash player or click on one of the thumbnail images and control it yourself.

[Show as slideshow]

Starting today at the Los Angeles Convention Center is Anime Expo 2009. Billed as the nation’s largest anime and manga convention, I went to see if their claim was true. And I have to say, it was pretty impressive. In a little while I’ll be posting tons of pictures of people in costumes and a more detailed write-up of what I thought. But for now, let’s talk “Gatchaman”.

At the convention today, Imagi Studios had a booth where they were showing clips from their upcoming “Astro Boy” movie and they also had some early signage for their next feature “Gatchaman”. After the jump, you can see the images as well as a “Gatchaman” watch which they were giving away to people at certain times of the day.

As you can see in the images below, while the signage isn’t anything amazing, it’s enough to keep me excited. I grew up watching “Gatchaman” and I cannot wait to see this feature in a few years. Also, the characters of the film look exactly like I’d want them to. And make sure you notice the fiery phoenix on the upper right of the first picture. If you’re a fan of “Gatchaman”, this should make you very happy.

Since displays and signage are expensive to make, and with Comic-Con right around the corner, I’d like to think the same display will be in San Diego. If you’re going there, maybe you can also get a watch….

Just Jared has landed some behind-the-scenes photos of Dakota Fanning as rocker Cherie Currie in the upcoming biopic “The Runaways”.  We previously saw Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett but she was still pretty recognizable as Stewart (not to slam the make-up or costume job; it’s just you know it’s Stewart just as you know it’s Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash).  Fanning is a different story.  While I can still tell it’s Fanning, she really has grown up fast and, more importantly, she’s growing up well.  I don’t mean that in the dirty old man sense but in that I think she’s serious about being the mature actor that never really suited her as a child when that attitude came off as irritatingly precocious (to the point where Amy Poehler and SNL could mock it mercilessly).  What’s more, she doesn’t need films like “Hounddog” to say “I’m a mature actress”.  She was one of the best parts of “Push” and I have high hopes for her performance in “The Runaways”.

Hit the jump to see a couple of set photos and head over to JustJared to see the full gallery.

Continuing its commitment to making a movie out of anything a child can play with, Universal is adapting the old, old school game video game “Asteroids” according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Why, “Asteroids”, I’m not exactly sure.  Was “Pong” taken?*  And furthermore, why not grab something with a little more creative room?  I think if you got someone creative and insane enough, you could make an interesting “Pac-Man” movie (this t-shirt is probably more creative and has more story than the inevitable film).

Back to “Asteroids” wasn’t this movie already made as “Armageddon”?  And if “Armageddon” taught us anything (and I’m almost 100% sure it didn’t), you can’t shoot asteroids in order to blow them up.  You have to land on them and implant them with a nuclear bomb.  And after Jason Isaacs sold us on why you have to do that using his firecracker analogy, audiences will refuse to accept an isosceles triangle destroying asteroids without the help of the world’s best deep-core drilling team and a nuclear weapon.

*As an aside, my friend and current kick-ass film editor David Solomon wrote the world’s first “Pong” fan-fic in 2001.  You can read it here.

How should you celebrate this Independence Day?  Sure, you could go the conventional route of shooting off fireworks and rounding up illegal immigrants, but why not stay home, huddled in front of the warmth of your computer screen, and go a few rounds in playing the online game for “District 9″.  The film revolves around aliens who have crash-landed on Earth and are now being held captive in a slum known as District 9.  In the game, you can play as humans or filthy, filthy aliens.  Playing as a human, your job is to capture or kill filthy, filthy aliens (you get more points for capturing but it’s much harder and you die much faster) and as a filthy, filthy alien, your job is to collect cannisters while avoiding clean, clean humans.

Click here to defend/escape District 9 and check back next week for the film’s brand new trailer.  “District 9″ hits theatres on August 14th.

I have made no secret of my love for Neil Patrick Harris as I applaud both his self-lampooning in the “Harold & Kumar” movies as well as his stellar work on the fantastic comedy series, “How I Met Your Mother”.  After last year’s disasterous quintet of reality show hosts presenting the Emmy awards, CBS has tapped one of its biggest stars, Harris, to follow up his well-received stint hosting the Tonys by hosting television’s congratulatory wankfest.  It may also be odd because Harris is almost guaranteed to grab yet another Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy nomination for his work on “HIMYM”.  Of course, there won’t be the awkwardness of him winning because why do that when you can just give it to Jeremy Piven again (for those keeping count, Piven has won the award three years in a row for playing Ari Gold which doesn’t speak as much to Piven’s performance as it does to the fact that most Emmy voters probably just Xerox their ballots).

While the Emmys will undoubtedly be an exercise in frustration from the moment the nominees are announced (prepare to tear your hair out this year on July 17th), at least it will have a strong anchor with Harris and a strong host (see Conan O’Brien) can make the evening far less grueling when you realize you’re watching a four-hour repeat.  Look forward to this year when shows like “The Shield”, “Burn Notice”, and “Battlestar Galactica” are neglected once again in favor of completely forgettable work from shows like “Entourage”, “Boston Legal”, and automatic nominations for anything HBO does.

This year’s Emmys airs on September 20th.  If it weren’t for the NPH, you could almost feel the lack of excitement.

The 2009 July Fourth holiday frame got underway on Wednesday with two new features debuting wide: “Ice Age 3D: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” and “Public Enemies”.  “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is still capable of doing plenty of damage to both as it angles to take a second weekend at number one, however.  Fox’s third “Ice Age” feature got off to a solid start with $13.8 million debut from 3,993 theatres (including a record 1,600 3D screenings).  This was good enough to trounce the Wednesday “Transformers” take of $10.9 million, though the two films should even out with $60 million a piece come Sunday.  Universal’s “Public Enemies” was always playing for third place, though the more adult-themed movie proved surprisingly potent on day one.  Solid reviews helped “Enemies” take in an estimated $8.2 million from its 3,319 runs.  This puts the film on track to exceed the projected $30 million five-day gross that Universal was floating a couple of days ago.    Check back to see which film will ultimately get the upper hand this weekend (though it seems foolish to bet against “Transformers 2″ at this point, doesn’t it?)

In the interim, Spike Lee has directed at least two great-to-masterpiece-level films. Malcolm X is maybe his strongest achievement as it does feel like an accurate summation of a great man’s life, while Inside Man is a masterful genre piece that’s smarter and hipper than most. A great taking of the mantle from Sidney Lumet, if there ever was one. But when it comes to Spike, it’s hard not to suggest his greatest achievement was made twenty years ago with Do the Right Thing. My full review is after the jump:

Lee stars as Mookie, a pizza delivery man for Sal (Danny Aiello), at Sal’s Famous Pizzareia. There he works with Sal’s racist son Pino (John Turturro) and the more accepting Vito (Richard Edson). But the film is about a block in Bed-Stuy in the late 80’s, so there’s all sorts of characters about. Da Mayor (Ossie Davis) is an old drunk, but a charming one at that, who has a prickly relationship with Mother Sister (Ruby Dee) as she sits in her stoop and watches the neighborhood. There’s Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) who goes around blasting Public Enemy’s Fight the Power all day long on his boom box. Smiley (Roger Guenveur Smith) is a deaf stutterer selling the picture of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King’s meeting. There’s Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito), who’s proud of his shoes and wants to boycott Sal’s because all the pictures on the wall are of Italian Americans, and none of African-Americans (the shop’s most consistent patrons). ML (Paul Benjamin) Coconut Sid (Frankie Faison) and Sweet Dick Willie (the late great Robin Harris) sit at their table and drink and talk smack, while there’s a Korean grocery store owned by Sonny (Steve Park) where everyone gets their beer. There’s a group of teenagers out (including Martin Lawrence), the radio DJ Mister Senoir Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson), Mookie’s sister Jade (Joie Lee) and Mookie’s girlfriend Tina (Rosie Perez) who takes care of their son Hector.

For a good ninety minutes of the film’s running time, it’s about the incidents of a day in the life of this Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood. Most are amusing, as groups intersect and interact. Pino and Mookie talk about Pino’s racism, and Mookie confronts Pino with the fact that he loves a lot of black famous people. Radio Raheem shows off his new bling, which features Love on one hand and Hate on the other (Spike’s most self-conscious nod to cinema history, in homage to Night of the Hunter). He builds the characters, creating a lived in atmosphere.

But then - partly due to the heat - the film escalates into violence, some of which is likely still controversial, but it’s partly why the film stands as a classic. Spike offers his thoughts on why his character does what he did in concrete terms in the new commentary, but arguably what makes the film exciting is how we interpret some of the actions. Spike has been critical of audiences who find themselves more moved by the loss of property over loss of life, and his concern suggests many of the themes in the film. When people have their backs against it all their worst (and perhaps most honest) selves come out. But, in terms of race relations, Spike is very even handed, and shows the good and bad sides of most of the characters, but in creating a microcosm he is able to do what most masterpieces about people do: create a world that lives and breathes beyond the screen. And these characters embed themselves. But it’s important to remember that the film is funny, sexy, provocative, and cinematically excited. There is so much to love here.

Universal presents the Blu-ray version in widescreen (1.78:1) and in DTS-HD surround. Though the transfer doesn’t offer the saturated colors of the Criterion edition, the colors are also cleaner, and the film’s heat is readily apparent. It isn’t as soft, but such often comes across as muddy in a 1080 transfer. It looks excellent, but purists may want to hold on to both versions. The Criterion commentary with Lee, Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, Production designer Wynn Thomas and Joie Lee is included, and I should stop and give Dickerson his due for this film. You feel the heat, and that’s got a lot to do with his work. Also included is a looser commentary by Lee recorded for this release. He laughs a lot, and enjoys the film, and says some interesting things, but it’s not as tightly thought out as the earlier commentary. New is “Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later” (36 min.) with Lee, Dickerson, Rosie Perez, John Turturro, Richard Edson, Steve Park, Roger Guenveur Turner (Smiley), Jon Savage, Frankie Faison, Luis Ramos, Chuck D, Co-producers Monty Ross, and Jon Kilik, and Assistant Props Kevin Ladson. It’s a good talking heads pieces about the making of. There’s Eleven Deleted scenes (14 min.) showin more life in the neighborhood, with a beautiful shot of the Trade Center. From the criterion collection comes the period behind the scenes (58 min.) and a making of (61 min.) which gives a full picture on the film and its struggles, along with a Spike intro (1 min.), and Lee and co-producer Jon Kilik walking around the old neighborhood (5 min.), and an interview with Barry Brown (10 min.). Also from the CC is an intro to the storyboard sequence for the Riot scene (2 min.),  and the storyboards for it presented in a still gallery. Also from that disc is a documentary on the film’s reception at Cannes (42 min.) with comments from Lee, Joie Lee, and Ossie Davis. The disc also comes with the film’s theatrical trailer and two TV spots. Missing from the Criterion version is the music video for Fight the Power, though that is the only missing supplement.

Currently playing in theaters is director Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies”. The film is set during the Depression-era’s great crime wave and it’s the story of the government’s attempt to stop legendary criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. This operation transformed the FBI into the first federal police force. By now you’ve seen the trailers and commercials, so you know the cast is filled with famous faces like Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum and David Wenham.

Anyway, to help promote the film, our partners at Omelete sent me to cover the international press day and I was able to participate in a small press conference with Marion Cotillard. While Marion doesn’t have a huge part, she absolutely holds her own against Johnny Depp, as she plays his love interest Billie Frechette. After the jump is what she had to say about the movie and a lot more. Take a look:

As always, you can either read the transcript below or listen to the audio by clicking here.

Question: What did you learn from Michael Mann in contrast to the other directors that you worked with?

Cotillard: I think I knew it before, but when I had to work on this Midwestern accent and it was really hard for me and part of my brain and my heart were always focused on this accent and I know he works on details and that’s what I love about him. I really wanted him to be happy with my accent so I worked hard. But knowing that it would never be a hundred percent perfect because I’m French I started learning English when I was twelve and it’s already late to really have a perfect accent and plus I started to learn English with a French teacher and it was more like, ‘Ze cat iz in zee garden -’ and ‘Chrees iz very happy to see you today.’ I mean it was really bad English. So, a Midwestern accent, before I wouldn’t know if this was Midwestern or southern. Now I kind of know where it is and even between British and American I didn’t really know. Now I really know. He was the one, because I was so focused on the accent all the time, to tell me, ‘You really have to let it go now. You worked hard and enough, but now you have to give heart and soul and flesh and emotions to Billie [Frechette] and then the accent will follow.’ I was sure, my brain was sure that if I would totally let it go and if I didn’t think about it would not be good. He was right, actually. It was when I really let it go, when I didn’t think about it that it was the best for everything. The character was there. She had flesh and bones and emotions. Also, a better Midwestern accent with a little flavor French [laughs].

Question: Did working with Johnny Depp help you as a French actress?

Cotillard: I don’t know. How can I answer this question? What exactly is your question actually? Is it that it helps that he knows French women? Maybe. I don’t know. How can I answer this question? I will try. I mean, he’s a very, very nice person. He was very nice to me because I was very stressed out. It was my first movie after two years. It was my first movie after ‘La vie en Rose’. It had been two years and I was very stressed out. I’m always very scared when I start a movie because I never know if I’m going to be able to do a good job or do a very bad job. He was very nice. That’s what I can say. Actually, we never spoke French because I really wanted to stick with the English, like I told you before, so that it was really getting into my brain. So I would not allow myself to speak French even with my boyfriend, my mother, my brothers. It was really weird but it helped me a lot. Even with some of my friends that have really, really bad English it was better than French.

Question: Aside from the accent, what were the other challenges in creating this Midwestern American woman when you’re French and the French are supposed to be very sophisticated? Can you de-sophisticate yourself to play this woman?

Cotillard: I don’t think that I’m that sophisticated. Maybe I’m not aware of it, I don’t know. I wouldn’t say that it was a challenge, but it was so interesting. I never thought that I would have to play an Indian, well half French, but an Indian woman in my life. I got to discover Native American history and American history. So it was more like I opened a box with a lot of treasures about a culture that is not mine, but that is so interesting. I met these people from Menominee Tribe and it’s an amazing culture. I met with really amazing people. I was very lucky to be in a situation that I had to be one of them. I had to be one of the American history which is amazing for a hundred percent French girl. But I would say that the only big challenge for me was definitely the accent and that the rest of it was…it was the accent and also, I mean it was the biggest challenge to let it go and not think about it than to actually work on the accent. I think that when you work you can get somewhere. But all the rest was just a joy.

Question: What do you love about acting and is there a particular moment in this film where you can really see that passion for acting?

Cotillard: I can answer the first question. The second, I don’t know how to talk about myself like this and say, ‘Look, there you can really see that I love acting!’ I wouldn’t be able to say that. But I think when I finally found this way to express myself it was a relief because I didn’t know how to do it before that. I’ve always known actors because my parents are actors on stage and so I lived in a very creative environment when I was a kid. All my life. When I was young and my parents job was to tell stories to people, that’s how they fed us. It was amazing. They would travel around the world, I remember. My dad was a mime and then he had his company and created plays for children and was very successful with it. So he went all around the world. They would come back from Peru with Peruvian clothes and I mean it was magical, traveling and telling stories that make people laugh or cry, having emotions. I’ve always wanted to do that. When I started and felt that it was my way to express myself and if I needed someone else inside of me, which is a character, to express myself that it was okay. Voila.

Question: Would you like to work more here in the states or is your heart still in France mostly?

Cotillard: My only goal, if I can put it that way because it’s not really a goal but more of a desire, is to work with great people and in a way to tell good stories. I don’t plan things. I’m so lucky to work in the United States and do American movies because when I was young my heroes were Gene Kelly, Charlie Chaplin, The Marx Brothers and they were all American. I mean, I watched French movies, too, but it was really that my culture of movies was American. I never thought that I would work here one day. I’m so happy that I’ve had the opportunity to do that. But I’m also French and I love French cinema, but I’ll not say that I have to do a French movie and then an American movie and then do another French movie. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. I really want to live in the present time and I hope that I will have beautiful offers but maybe in Japan, too. Why not? I think you’re where you have to be and I’m not a person who wants to control things too much because I love surprises.

Question: How did you identify with Billie Frechette in terms of your own personal views of love?

Cotillard: On love. Maybe it’s related to what she lived, how she loved. But where I can relate with her…it’s not about love, what I’m going to answer, but it might be related in a way. She had a very tough life. She went through very tough things. The first thing is that she was Indian and at a certain point she was at that boarding school where people told her that it was bad to be an Indian, that it was bad to have this language she had, that it’s bad to be who you are. I think that’s surreal for a child. It might be really hard to understand and it might be kind of a trauma. Then she had a very bad wedding with some very bad gangsters. I mean, he was even bad at being a gangster actually. But she always looked at the positive side of things and she was full of life. I don’t know if you have this expression here with the glass half empty or half full. She would always see it half full. I think that’s a strength especially in that era, the ’30’s in Chicago, The Depression. It’s a very, very tough life that they had back then and in this area. So I can relate to her. I really have an amazing life compared to what she had, but to try to see the positive things in bad things. Then I see it related to love in many ways. She was in love with a bad guy even if I think he was not that bad, but she loved him.

Question: What were your expectations of working with Johnny Depp before you started shooting? Then once you started production did he surprise you in any way or exceed your expectations and did you learn anything from him? How was the whole experience?

Cotillard: I think that you always learn something from working with good actors. I had seen a lot of his movies before I worked with him. I think he’s an amazing actor because he can do so many different things and be authentic in each of those things. He’s a very - I think I always say funny guy, but funny guy means more weird. I should say fun guy. Yeah? He’s a fun guy. He really likes to have fun on set. When I say he’s a simple person it doesn’t mean like he’s…it  means he’s really easy to talk with. He’s the same person with everybody which is an amazing quality when you have a special life like the life that he has. He’s a real gentle man. I didn’t know anything about him except his work. Most of the time I don’t expect things. I don’t project, like, ‘Oh, maybe he’ll be like this or like that.’ So it’s not about surprise. It’s just about discovering someone who’s a very nice person and a great actor.

Question: You have some very heavy emotional scenes in the film that look hard to do. How do you handle that type of scene?

Cotillard: Well, it seems weird, but I love it. I know that it’s weird to imagine that someone can find pleasure in feeling really deep pain, but I think it’s a way for me to express myself. I wouldn’t know how to explain it and I don’t think it’s really a need. It’s better to do things than to explain them. There are many people who can explain it. When I did ‘La vie en Rose’ there were many, many emotional states. She was very emotional and there were a lot of scenes that were very painful and I loved it. Not that I’m a masochistic person. After these kinds of scenes you feel empty and full at the same time and for me it’s an amazing feeling. I don’t know if I answered your question.

Question: How did Chris Nolan approach you for ‘Inception’ and who you play in the movie?

Cotillard: I can tell you that he called my agent and wanted to see me, a very simple way. But you know that I can’t tell you anything else [laughs].

Here is the first silent film to be included in my roundup of movies to see before you die, and if this one doesn’t leave you wrung out like a sponge that’s been soaked in emotional overload, then you may have already bought the farm anyway.  You have no doubt encountered some of the other, more sweeping versions of Joan of Arc’s battlefield exploits, and may well be disappointed to discover that this post will not be going over Luc Besson’s epic The Messenger starring the delightful Milla Jovovich.  Granted, seeing the star of the Resident Evil franchise in full body armor has its appeal, but the territory we shall be visiting here goes a little deeper.  Simply put, Carl Theodore Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc puts the human soul, naked, frightened and indestructible, onto 82 minutes of panchromatic film. More after the jump:

Panchromatic film stock had only recently become widely affordable in the late 1920’s.  Its sensitivity to all the wavelengths in the color spectrum meant that black & white photography could more realistically render a wider variety of tones.  Specific to filmmaker Dreyer’s needs, it allowed him to banish all forms of make up from his set, and get right up into the faces of his cast, whose rawness thus came through in all its documentary-like intensity.  And this film is almost all close-ups, which was a daring choice over seventy years ago and would remain equally daring today.  But, since Dreyer knew that his entire focus was to be the trial of Joan on charges of heresy, and not on her exploits in the field of battle, there seemed no other choice for pulling the viewer into the world of a condemned woman facing her accusers.  Combined with some bizarrely skewed angles and reaction shots that do not match the action against which they are cut, the overall effect is one of extreme disorientation, as well as immersion into an ancient world.  Dreyer makes us feel as if we have been granted the privilege of being transported to the 15^th century in order to watch the proceedings unfold.

The historical Joan of Arc, later declared a saint, was captured and tried for heresy after claiming that she had been charged directly by God to lead her successful campaigns against the British occupation of France during the Hundred Years’ War.  By ecclesiastical laws of the 1400’s, only the church could grant one a state of grace, so Joan’s direct contact with God was seen as both blasphemous and dangerous.  Dreyer, with co-writer Joseph Delteil, stays somewhat faithful to the transcripts of Joan’s trial, though veering away from the established record at times to further his themes of martyrdom, the strength of human will and the duplicitous nature of Joan’s detractors.  Dreyer, though Danish, is unapologetic about his affection for France’s great hero, and he is clearly making an often biased case for her as he pits her onscreen persona against her interrogators.  Mocked by the all-male court, taunted and harassed by her British guards (a depiction that caused the film to be banned in England), Joan’s is the story of a woman whose spiritual agony is played out before our eyes.  Hated (and, at the end, feared and perhaps even respected) by her chief accuser, Bishop Pierre Cauchon (the remarkable screen presence of Eugène Silvain), Joan’s anguish grows ever more unbearable as she is asked to deny what she knows in her heart to be true.  When, confronted by her own need for redemption through the blessing of Holy Communion, she gives in and recants, it tears her apart so much that she takes it back.  This, to the dismay of the court, seals her fate of death at the stake.

The hints of Joan’s future impact on the liberation of France are supplied by an angry mob of townspeople who riot when their symbol of hope is burned alive.  There is no historical documentation of any such riot, but the sequence of mayhem intercut with Joan’s fiery demise makes for one of the most painfully beautiful montages in cinema history.  (Dreyer was openly admiring of Sergei Eisenstein, the great Russian pioneer of editing juxtapositions, and spoke often of Eisenstein’s influence on his work.)  It is transcendently devastating.

Finally, then, there is Joan herself, embodied as if through astral projection by the impossibly gifted Maria (credited as Melle) Falconetti, who would retire from acting after this performance.  Whether this abandonment of the craft was because of the role’s inherent emotional demands, or Dreyer’s obsessive directing style, or neither, is open to question.  (Dreyer required all of his actors to work off and on for six months-the length of the actual trial-and would not release Falconetti from the draining experience of having her hair roughly shorn off with scissors.)  In a film comprised almost entirely of close-ups, Falconetti not only commands our attention but demands the temporary surrender of our inner lives to her sorrowful interpretation.  Her face, and the struggle it conveys, remains one of cinema’s most iconic images.

Misunderstood in its time, wrongly marketed as an art film because of its unconventional style, the film can now be seen as having immediate and obvious resonance; easily tapping into a universal experience.  In Dreyer’s lifetime, he had resigned himself to the idea of The Passion of Joan of Arc never reaching his desired audience, and, because so many of the prints were lost or destroyed by fire, to never being able to reassemble the final cut on which he had intended.  Incredibly, an almost-complete print of the director’s original version was discovered in 1981 in the janitor’s closet of an Oslo mental hospital, and that is the print we can now see on DVD today.  While we may be prone to giggle at this strange concurrence-a film about a woman who claimed she talked to God clearly having been shown to people who may have also heard voices-it is actually the final testimony to the film’s power.  Dreyer and Falconetti, it seems, managed to depict on film what it must be like for a tortured soul to remain true to itself, as difficult and as alienating as such a decision might be.

James Napoli is an author, filmmaker and teacher whose third book Violation! The Ultimate Ticket Book is now available.

Do you know who Nimrod Antal is?  It’s okay if you don’t.  He’s the man behind “Kontroll”, “Vacancy”, and the upcoming “Armored”.  But you should start getting familiar with him because Robert Rodriguez just brought him on board to direct “Predators”, the first official sequel in the “Predator” franchise since we won’t count the “AVP” films and all their wretchedness.

Speaking with AICN, Rodriguez confirmed the hiring (which had been rumored in the past week or so as LatinoReview reported) and said that it was Antal’s work on “Armored” that really put him over the top.  Rodriguez compares Antal to Quentin Tarantino in being able to handle a large cast in a character-driven movie.  Also, judging from the interview, while Rodriguez is tight-lipped on the plot, he’s kind of selling it like “Aliens” but with Predators.  I don’t know if that’s any reason to complain, but I think it would be nice to have a film that can stand on its own as an action-horror flick rather than just using the “Predator” name.

Click over to AICN for the full story.  Antal’s “Armored” is slated to hit theatres on December 4th.

Opening today is director Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies”. The film is set during the Depression-era’s great crime wave and it’s the story of the government’s attempt to stop legendary criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. This operation transformed the FBI into the first federal police force. By now you’ve seen the trailers and commercials, so you know the cast is filled with famous faces like Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum and David Wenham.

Anyway, to help promote the film, our partners at Omelete sent me to cover the international press day and I was able to participate in a small press conference with Christian Bale. During the interview, Christian talked about making “Public Enemies”, the research he did to prepare to play Melvin Purvis, what he’s working on now, and people tried to get him to compare all the different director’s he’s worked with to one another. If you’re a fan of this great actor, you’ll love the interview. The transcript and audio is after the jump:

As always, you can either read the transcript below or listen to the audio by clicking here.

Question: Does the hat help you keep your anonymity?

Bale: No [laughs].

Question: Playing the FBI agent who kills Dillinger makes you the criminal since the audience is rooting for Johnny Depp. How did you feel about that?

Bale: I think that’s the truth of the time. It was The Depression and Dillinger was a folk hero to so many and it’s very easy to see why that was the case. He was very charming and a very charismatic man. I think he was probably great with marketing himself. This kind of comparison to Robinhood is a little misplaced, but certainly the fact that he wasn’t taking from individuals and from the poor and was taking from the fat cats who were taking everything from the common man was something that everybody at that time couldn’t have helped recognize. The public liked him. Human nature. We find it fascinating when people are happy to stand up and buck the system and apparently lead a very happy and full life. Dillinger seemed to live as though he knew his life was going to be cut short. Equally, with Purvis, he was somebody who was courted by the press and was incredibly popular in his day. He was called the Clark Gable of the bureau and everything. And I think that ultimately he became very disillusioned with his mentor, J. Edgar Hoover, who had started off idolizing and admired his brilliant vision. He was a wonderful visionary but we’re seeing the early days. And in Hoover’s jealous nature and in his desire for a short term success requested actions out of Purvis that Purvis was very unhappy about, that went against his nature, that he found to be morally repugnant and ultimately a compromise of Hoover’s own values. So, absolutely, by the time Dillinger is taken down there’s no satisfaction on the part of Purvis. In fact, he questioned who had lost more here. Ultimately, you can see the facts. He quit the bureau within a year of taking Dillinger down.

Question: How do you picture yourself ten years from now?

Bale: I have no idea.

Question: Purvis being called the Clark Gable of the FBI, did that give you a hint into how you wanted to play and create this character?

Bale: There’s a wealth of information about Purvis; newspaper clippings, newsreel footage, books. A book written by Purvis himself. A book written by his son Alston [Purvis] which I kept with me all the time called ‘The Vendetta’ which was really fascinating. I recognize of course that it’s very much a supporting role in this movie, but I just couldn’t help but become really fascinated with the character and became very affectionate and fond of him. I just wanted to know as much as I could and it’s all out there as well. He was somebody who was unique. He did not fit the mold of the majority of the FBI agents of the day. He was incredibly dapper and elegant. He liked the ballet. He liked the opera. He was equally incredibly capable with weapons. He’d grown up in the country hunting. He was an extraordinary man who was really brought low by his success.

Question: You’re in a lot of Hollywood movies these days. How does it feel moving from the cult figure that you were in the past to the popular figure that you are now and dealing with the added scrutiny?

Bale: I’ve never paid attention to - what would you call it - my reputation. I’ve never really been interested in looking at myself and that. I make movies I feel I would like to see or that I would like to…well, no. No, actually. Less that I want to see. More that I just feel like there will be something that I’ll find intriguing about the making of it. That takes me to many places. In no way does making a few large movies mean that that’s what I always want to do. This job affords the option of great variety and I’d be a fool not to take advantage of that variety.

Question: Michael Mann shoots in HD. Can you talk about the HD revolution that’s going on in film and how you feel about it? Also, you’re looking thin, like you’re in training. Is this all for ‘Fighter’?

Bale: Yes. This is for ‘Fighter’. And I loved the HD. I’d never worked in HD before. It’s something which I will kind of hint at in future projects, but it’s very much the director’s decision and the director’s relationship with his DP is a very vital one on any movie set. So it’s their decision and I found just from my own point of view that there was such a momentum, experimentation and more similarity to life in being able to run that camera for fifty two minutes straight without having to stop. With film you have to stop every six minutes and reload. I found that to be a wonderful and new experience for me.

Question: Is ‘Fighter’ actually going? What’s the status of it?

Bale: I hope it is.

Question: I’ve heard that you might be doing it, but when will that be if it is going?

Bale: We might start within a couple of weeks.

Question: You’ve worked with some great filmmakers like [Steven] Spielberg, [Terrence] Malick, [Werner] Herzog and now Michael Mann. Can you compare them and their cinematic vision?

Bale: I don’t like to.

Question: Is there one that you prefer?

Bale: That’s exactly what I want to avoid [laughs].

Question: Well, then, what do you think of Michael Mann as a filmmaker?

Bale: He’s fantastic. He truly is. He’s one of the finest out there. I hope that I will be suggesting my preferences through who I get to work with again.

Question: And about Malick?

Bale: Equally a fantastic director. Both of those experiences were certainly two of the most satisfying that I’ve ever had.

Question: Do you have fun with acting or is it sometimes a hard job?

Bale: It’s both. It’s both. It depends upon the day and how you feel on that day. It depends on the people around you, the relationships, the working relationships, how much satisfaction you’re actually getting from any portrayal. So you never know. You never can tell. It doesn’t matter how wonderful a sit down meeting might be with somebody you never know until you’re working together just how much you’re going to gel.

Question: Can you talk about the relationship you’ve developed to the city of Chicago after shooting there so many times and if you’re looking forward to doing more of that?

Bale: Yeah. It’s a wonderful city. It’s such a dynamic city in terms of the duality that it has, that we can shoot ‘Public Enemies’ there and we can shoot ‘The Dark Knight’ there. In the one it looks like a shiny, steel and glass contemporary city. In the other it looks like the 1930’s. It has all of those aspects to it. It’s got great character.

Question: Do you consider movies to be a life changing experience or just entertainment?

Bale: They’re both of those and they should be both. Clearly it’d be very pompous to suggest that some movies that are out there and that I’ve been involved with could ever be life changing movies. Some of them are pure entertainment and are wonderful for that. There’s a great talent for that, too. Likewise, there are other movies that certainly do have life changing consequences and stories that I can’t helped but be touched by very, very deeply. They should be all of that. They should never be just one thing.

Question: How do you try to fit into that scheme, as a an entertainer or a social commentator?

Bale: I don’t even begin to try and see what I am.

Question: In ‘Dark Knight’ you have all these modern gadgets to play with. There’s none of that in this film. How was that experience?

Bale: Well, he had the modern gadgets of the day, but very late in the day. Like I think we said, they weren’t even armed until very, very late in the day. There were no radios that they were given to contact. That scene in The Sheridan Apartments where you see this ridiculous disadvantage that they’re at, having to run down the stairs to go to communicate to somebody who then had to run down the street to communicate to that guy and then the guy who’s in the blocking car hears gunshots and leaves the very post that it’d be helpful if he’d stayed at to come and see what’s going on. Meanwhile, the guys got away. The confusion because of the absolute impossibility of great communication was very frustrating to them. As you saw, the wire tapping was a new thing. It was a revelation to them. Incredibly helpful. But ultimately it came down to somebody having to rat Dillinger out before they could get him. It also came down to the far more advanced network of [Frank] Nitti and once Dillinger threatened to disrupt his business, which Dillinger just small-fry compared to what he was doing, then Nitti allowed the bureau to get Dillinger. But not until that happened were they able to do that. But at the time, the Thompson submachine gun, that was very pretty state of the art. And some of the cars that they were driving around, this was all new. This is what allowed the likes of Dillinger and his kind to do what they did for those few years.

Question: Johnny Depp is a unique actor in Hollywood. Many younger actors share their admiration for him. Can you talk about what it was like to work with him and if you found out anything new about him?

Bale: I can’t comment on finding something new about him because I know very little about him in the first place which I think is always a benefit with any actor. I agree very much, he’s very unique. He does his own thing. He makes very interesting choices and makes a real variety of movies. I find that interesting. I think naturally he found Dillinger to be a fascinating character and I think he did a superb job with it. But the nature of the way that we worked together was very similar to the way of the story. Purvis only that one time caught up with him. Pretty much I only caught up with Johnny that one time. If I was working he wasn’t. But I quite like that, I have to admit. I quite like it when you’re working with people and you only get to know them through the scenes that you’re doing together.

Question: When you play a real life character there’s a lot of information to dig into. So when you’re playing a fictional character do compensate for that lack of information by creating your own back story for them? How do you create a character?

Bale: I tend to do the first thing more. I always like to have the possibility of…details are everything and if you haven’t created some kind of a back story, it might sound nonsensical to a lot of people, but if you haven’t created that then I feel like you can tell. It’s much like if you see a movie and there’s some bad set design where everything looks right but it just feels wrong and it’s because you know that if the camera was just to pan a few inches you’d be off the set and there are guys standing there eating sandwiches or something. You can sort of feel that in a movie and I think you can feel that in a performance as well. If they only know exactly what you’re being told in that scene there’s something very unrealistic about it. So I think it’s always good to keep that in mind.

Question: Dillinger and Purvis lived in the Great Depression and Dillinger became almost a national hero because people didn’t have anything. We’re in a time a great recession -

Bale: I know. Who’s going to be the Dillinger of today? I mean, absolutely, for some bright spark there’s an opportunity here to be that.

Question: But the banks don’t have money anymore.

Bale: Really? Didn’t we just give them a lot?

Question: We’re joking, but these are hard times for a lot of people. How is Hollywood affected by the recession and maybe you as a Hollywood star; in what ways do you feel the recession?

Bale: Absolutely everything has been affected and so many people, friends of mine, there’s no work whatsoever for them. It’s tough times, falling on the heels of the strikes etc. It’s been very, very tough. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve continued to work throughout, but many people have just not been so fortunate. I think it affects movies as well as any other industry. What I often hear though is that people say that movies and liquor will always do well throughout hard times because it’s the cheapest form of entertainment and liquor is a great form of comfort to many. In terms of box office and things like that, I never look at that and I have no idea if that’s been reflected in box office numbers of movies and whether people are still going to see movies or not. I just don’t know.

Question: Chris [Nolan] is working on ‘Inception’. Has there been any talk between you guys - the ‘Batman’ question.

Bale: I really cannot tell you if there will ever be another ‘Batman’ movie right now. Chris has obviously done an incredible job with it. He’s devoted to the movie that he’s on right now. I’m none the wiser about we’ll ever be revisiting Gotham or not.

Question: A lot of people, myself included, don’t know that much about ‘Fighter’. Can you talk a little bit about what that film is about?

Bale: It’s a true story of two incredibly gifted boxers who were half brothers. The one, Dicky Ecklund, who fought Sugar Ray Leonard at a very young age, when he was twenty one, was an incredible natural talent. He lived a very hard life. Then he came to train his brother, Irish Mickey Ward, to the world title.

Question: You’re in really great shape right now and are somewhat known for your training process. Can you talk about how prepare physically for a role like that?

Bale: Box. There’s nothing like boxing for getting you in shape.

Question: Is it multi-hours a day?

Bale: Yes. It’s a wonderful thing when your trainer is actually the person you’re playing.

Question: Had you ever boxed before this?

Bale: I’d never boxed before, no.

Question: I’m a fan of that little film ‘Metroland’. Any plans to ever revisit the smaller world of indie films again?

Bale: I have no plans beyond what I’m doing on ‘The Fighter’. I can tell you that we’re trying to scrape together every penny we can on that one. My interest in a project never has anything to do with the budget, where the money is coming from, whether it’s studio or independent. I just care about the story and the possibilities of who I’m going to be working with and what that experience will be like. So, absolutely. Yes. I have no plans. But of course it’s going to happen.

Question: Have you seen this film projected in HD and is it weird to you? Everything is exposed, the pores, the wrinkles - how is that for you?

Bale: I have no problem with that. I don’t know the treatment that it went through before this movie, but I think it looks remarkable. It captures the richness of the time, but also makes it feel so relevant as well.

Question: You did IMAX with ‘Dark Knight’ which was breathtaking. 3-D seems to be a revolution through the whole industry. Now Michael Mann is showing up with HD. What are your thoughts on 3-D? Is that something that you’d be interested in doing on film?

Bale: I don’t know. I don’t know enough about it. I don’t even have Tivo. I don’t have caller ID. I use a pen and paper. I’m not the person to ask [laughs].

Question: Did you see yourself in IMAX though and what was your experience?

Bale: Oh, remarkable. That was phenomenal. I don’t know that it’s appropriate for every movie, but for that movie it certainly was. I did tell any friends who hadn’t already seen it in IMAX that it was really well worth it. I suppose that - not in my household - in most people’s household they have such advanced technology for watching movies nowadays that they have to ask themselves why bother unless they enjoy the communal spirit of a movie theater which I do. But in terms of technology there’s such great technology in everyone’s homes nowadays. Again, I’m not the guy to ask but I would think, yeah, that’s why the sudden obsession with 3-D and IMAX and needing to provide something greater that people cannot witness in their own homes. That’s my two cents.

Question: Purvis gets Dillinger in the end. Then we learn that he killed himself a year later.

Bale: No, no. He quit the bureau a year after that. He killed himself many years later. Not until 1960. He became a colonel in the army. He interrogated Goering at Nuremberg. He led an investigation into misconduct by Patton. He owned radio stations. He owned newspapers. He was meant to become a judge, but Hoover got in there and made sure that didn’t happen. He led a very colorful life long after leaving the bureau.

Question: Do you know why he killed himself?

Bale: I can really only speculate. There is an idea that it could’ve been an accident. Unlikely with somebody who was so adept with weapons but there is a notion that possibly there was a round left in the chamber when he was cleaning the gun. It’s a little tricky to believe that with someone who was so good and experienced with weapons. He had suffered from depression. He did, until his dying day, confuse him and trouble him about Hoover’s vendetta against him. It was quite extraordinary the lengths to which the man pursued and tried to make Purvis’s life a misery. But he’s a complex man like everyone is and it’d be wrong of me to say that I truly know the reasons.

Question: So, no update on ‘Terminator’ then, on doing another one?

Bale: Really, no. No conversation has been had about that at all.

With only twenty one days remaining till this year’s Comic-Con, news is slowly starting to leak out about what this year’s attendees can see.  Hopefully, the official website will release a full schedule immediately so folks can know which lines to stand in for most of the day.

While we don’t know what line you’ll have to stand in for Matthew Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass” (Hall H?  Certainly one of the larger ballrooms, at least), we know that you’ll have to carve out a block of time near the end of the day on Thursday, July 23rd if you want to see his adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic starring Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, and Nicolas Cage.  Vaughn will be showing off footage from the upcoming film although there’s no official word yet if any of the stars will be attending as well.  Personally, I’m happy with just Vaughn as he grabbed my attention with “Layer Cake” and then created an underseen gem with “Stardust”.  The story follows a normal 16-year-old who decides to become a super-hero despite having no training or special powers.  While I’ve never made secret of my disdain for Mark Millar’s work and his self-promotion disproportionate to his talent, I have confidence that Vaughn and co-screenwriter Jane Goodman can turn his comic into something pretty spectacular.

Hit the jump for a few images from the film. [via /Film]

It doesn’t quite beat yesterday’s news about “Liquid Artillery“, but the announcement of three pairs of special edition “Transformers” shoes crafted entirely out of nostalgia comes close.  The three characters getting their own footwear are Megatron (Nike Zoom Flight Club), Soundwave (Nike Sharkalaid) and Bumblebee (Nike Zoom FP).  No word yet if the Soundwave shoe isn’t made for wearing as much as just sitting on your shelf telling other shoes what to do.  If it had a tape-recorder, that would be cool too.

But with the packaging and the nostalgia designed to appeal to kids, these shoes can’t be that expensive.  They’re meant for the new generation of “Transformers” fans.  I mean, they have Velcro instead of laces!  So, what do they cost?  $40?  $50?

$100.00.  One hundred dollars for the Nike Zoom FP and Nike Sharkalaid.  The Megatron Nike Zoom Fight Club?  $120.00.  Twenty bucks for extra evil.  I understand that these shoes are limited editions, but it’s much quicker to just say “I’m a piece of shit” than to say “I just dropped one hundred and twenty dollars on Megatron shoes.”

Opening on July 10th is “Bruno” and Sacha Baron Cohen is once again going to shock some audiences. The reason I say some, is unlike “Borat” - which came completely out of left field - “Bruno” isn’t as shocking as we’ve seen a lot of it before. Scenes of Bruno doing and saying things to unsuspecting people is straight out of “Borat”, but that’s not to say I didn’t find it funny, as I laughed a lot and one scene had me in tears. While I definitely recommend “Bruno”, I wouldn’t call it a home-run.

Anyway, to help promote the film, Universal has just given us 4 clips from the movie and they’re after the jump. Take a look and judge “Bruno” for yourself:

Clip 1 Bruno speaks to an ex Palestinian Prime Minister

Clip 2 Bruno speaks to parents

Clip 3 Bruno tells audience he swapped baby OJ in Africa for an iPod

Clip 4 Bruno dresses up his military uniform with some D&G

You have to give it up for HBO. The mini-series as a format is on its death-nell. Network television has no interest in the format any more, or hasn’t for a while. They’d rather have a regular series, or a reality show. But the expense of putting on these sorts of things are of an older school, a school that is now all but vanished. But when HBO wants to do something (with the encouragement of Tom Hanks for sure), it gets done, and so the story of John Adams has been made as a seven part mini-series. Harrumph.

My review is after the jump:

Paul Giamatti stars as the man who would be the second president, and starts with him defending British soldiers for shooting at Americans. He defends them successfully, to some disappointment from the public, but his arguments are sound. The film then launches into his political career where he becomes friendly (as it were) with Benjamin Franklin (Tom Wilkinson, perfect casting) and Thomas Jefferson (Stephen Dillane). He is always flanked by his wife Abigail (Laura Linney, as always excellent). The series is episodic, to say the least, as each of the seven chapters talks to a different time in his life. The first his lawyer time, then it shifts gears to focus on the revolution, and the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, to his time in France, his role as Vice President, his election as President, Jefferson’s election, and then the final chapter focuses on his final years.

In total, the show occasionally is brilliant in getting behind what should be a very boring historical pageant. Giamatti lets you in quite a bit to a man who was full of contradictions. A horrible father and a passionate leader, he has great moments, and the end of the revolutionary episode the series hits a high. But there lies some action, and much of history is in the corners. George Washington is a figure (played by David Morse) but his role is modest, which is for the best as his make- up is as such that you are constantly staring at it, finding the moments where you buy him as Washington, and the others where you just have to eye the make-up. Every once in a while a small turn by someone, Rufus Sewell as Alexander Hamilton, or Danny Huston as Samuel Adams brings it back to life, but John Adams home life takes up a lot of time, and knowing that the president wasn’t a great father is good background, but less interesting foreground.

Though the mini-series deserves points for skipping Adams’s youth and courtship (aka all the boring shit that bio-pics often pad their first acts with), the show hits its stride in those first couple episodes, and the forming of the country, but by the time Adams is president, that thunder has slowed, and the show comes more to a slowdown end. Adams was one of the great founders of the country, but an above average president, which leads the resolution to being less interesting. Adams as a figure deserves this attention, and I was fascinated throughout, but the end result is less fascinating than the occasional highs.

HBO presents the show on three Blu-rays in widescreen (1.78:1) and in 5.1 DTS-HD. Each episode comes with a trivia track called “Facts are Stubborn Things.” There’s also a who’s who in history for brief bios of the main characters. Disc three offers a making of (29 min.), and a documentary on the book’s author David McCullough called “Painting with Words” (39 min.) where the author has a chance to talk about himself, his work and his subjects.

Hey Death: take a holiday.  At this point, I’m seriously starting to wonder if Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billie Mays, and now Karl Malden were on Air France Flight 447 and got off at the last minute.  Or, we can go the conspiracy route and wonder who would have it in for these people who were known and built a legacy but not particularly famous at present.   We could also chalk it up to coincidence but where’s the fun in that?

Malden was one of the all-time great character actors, appearing in over 70 movies and TV shows, and making his name in such classic films as “On the Waterfront”, “Baby Doll”, “Birdman of Alcatraz”, “Gypsy”, “Patton”, and “A Streetcar Named Desire” for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1951.  He was also in “Cat o’Nine Tales“.

Malden passed away today at his home in Brentwood, California at the age of 97.   Our condolences to his friends and family.  Also, at this point, we would like to tell the Reaper to back off because at this rate, the “In Memorium” section of the Oscars is going to be three hours long.

ComingSoon has just posted a photo of the “Avatar” banner that is now flying proudly over the San Diego Convention Center.  The James Cameron 3D feature film is one of the big draws at this year’s convention and, as we reported a few days back, Comic-Con has confirmed that this year Hall H will be equipped to screen 3D programming.  This is code for “people at Comic-Con are gonna get to see to see some really cool ‘Avatar’ footage.”   The banner shows one of the film’s giant aliens (called Na’vi) and if you’d like to see more of them you’ll have to get your ass to San Diego by July 23^rd… or keep checking back here with us.

Opening today is director Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies”. The film is set during the Depression-era’s great crime wave and it’s the story of the government’s attempt to stop legendary criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. This operation transformed the FBI into the first federal police force. By now you’ve seen the trailers and commercials, so you know the cast is filled with famous faces like Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum and David Wenham.

Anyway, to help promote the film, our partners at Omelete sent me to cover the international press day and I was able to participate in a small press conference with Johnny Depp. During the interview, Johnny talked about making “Public Enemies”, all his upcoming films like “Alice in Wonderland” and “Dark Shadows”, and a lot more. Since he doesn’t do a lot of press, if you’re a fan, you’ll love the interview. Read or listen to it after the jump:

As always, if you’d rather listen to the interview, click here for the audio. Again, “Public Enemies” is now playing everywhere.

Question: Why do you think we enjoy watching stories about criminals?

Depp: Well, they get away with things that we don’t get away with, especially Jesse James, back in that era. He was sort of the precursor to John Dillinger in a way. John Dillinger in 1933, when the banks were the enemies and the government…J. Edgar Hoover was teetering on criminal himself, and so John Dillinger as the common man stood up and said, ‘No, no. I’m not going to take it. I’m going to get what I believe is mine.’ Am I done? I don’t know. Should I say anything else?

Question: The scene where Dillinger walked into the police station, the most wanted man in America at the time, and went completely unnoticed, is that true?

Depp: It’s the truth.

Question: OK. That’s not my question.

Depp: [laughs] Well, that’s not my answer.

Question: You’re one of the most wanted actors in the world.

Depp: Really?

Question: If you had the opportunity to walk around wherever without being noticed where would you go?

Depp: Ooh, wow. God. That’s a very good question. Off the top of my head, where I could walk around and be completely anonymous? I’d walk through Disneyland with my kids. That’s what I’d do. I’d go on every ride and I’d walk through Disneyland with my kids. I’d let them experience that kind of thing. They don’t get to get daddy…daddy walks through Disneyland with them and things get weird at the moment [laughs].

Question: You’ve talked before about hats, how much you appreciate them and they become friends. You got to wear a lot of them in this movie. Have you made any new friends?

Depp: I have made some new friends, some new hat friends. Yeah.

Question: Which one was your favorite?

Depp: Oh, man. There were so many nice ones. There was a guy in Chicago making these things for us and he was such a great artist. I think the thing about hats, suits, coats, that whole thing; what I appreciate about it is what I suppose it represents. I mean, everyone made an effort then. Times were so different. There was still a kind of innocence. There was still possibilities. Everyone made an effort, hats and coats and ties. I’ve always felt like I probably should’ve been born in that era, but apparently I wasn’t. Not far actually though.

Question: In the movie Dillinger seems very comfortable with the media’s spotlight. How comfortable are you with that scrutiny in real life?

Depp: Well, I mean, the thing I’m infinitely more comfortable with is the process and the effort of making the character and the collaborative process. Making the movie basically. Then there’s this other stuff that goes along with it that I don’t think I will ever understand, but I do appreciate as a part of the gig. It’s a certain amount of attention that I suppose goes along with it. The alternative is a real drag, that if there’s no attention well then the job goes away, doesn’t it. John Dillinger, I think just like any red blooded American, was handed the ball and he ran with it. That’s not any different than what happened to me a very long time ago. You’re handed the ball and you go as far as you can go until somebody says, ‘Alright, kid. You’re done. Get off the ride.’ I think that’s what Dillinger was doing. Although, with Dillinger, he knew that the clock was ticking. His situation was infinitely more grave than mine. He knew that he had a very short period of time to deal with and he’d made peace with that. So that’s what he was doing. He was kind of the ultimate existential figure. He moved forward constantly and never went back.

Question: What kind of research did you for your role in ‘Alice in Wonderland’? Did you use the book or bring something outside of that to the character?

Depp: Well, certainly the book. The book is the basis for everything. There are little mysteries, little clues in the book that I found fascinating that were keys to at least my understanding of the Mad Hatter, like him saying, ‘I’m investigating that begin with the letter M.’ That was huge for me because when you do a little digging you realize you’re talking about a hatter, a man who made hats and if you go back and look at some of the historical hatters there’s that term that this guy or that guy is as mad as a hatter. There was a reason for that and the reason for that was mercury poisoning. So I found out what the M was and why they went nuts. So that became a huge thing. Then it was just kind of what I saw and what I thought the guy should look like. I made my little weird drawings and water colors and brought them to Tim [Burton] and he brought me his weird little drawings and water colors and they were not dissimilar [laughs]. You could’ve put them right together and they were pretty darn close. There’s a lot of color and brightness and then de-saturation in The Hatter. He’s like a mood ring I suppose.

Question: What’s so special about your relationship with Tim? Is that he lets you do whatever you’d like as an actor?

Depp: Well, the most special thing is that he very luckily has given me about seven jobs. That’s the most amazing thing. I’m looking forward to the eighth and ninth. There’s no real definition other than there is some kind of connection, some sort of understanding that Tim and I have that is at most times unspoken. Most people when they hear Tim give me direction or we’re talking about the character or something on the set, people are baffled. Completely befuddled and they don’t know what we’re talking about. A guy actually came to me one time after watching Tim and I talk for ten minutes and said, ‘I didn’t understand a word that you guys were saying.’ So, yeah. I don’t know. It’s just one of those things that you don’t question, but I sure love him.

Question: Have you ever fantasized about being a Robinhood character, taking from the rich and giving to the poor?

Depp: That’s what I’ve been doing for twenty five years [laughs]. I mean, it’s true. I started out printing silk screen t-shirts. I sold ink pens. I worked construction. I worked at a gas station. I pumped gas. I was a mechanic for a little bit. I went into sewers, down into sewer lines. I had a lot of somewhat unpleasant gigs for a time there. Ever since I suppose somewhere around 1986 I started to take from the rich.

Question: You mentioned earlier that the area that Dillinger lived in was a place where men were still men. Can you talk about what you mean by that? And how involved are you in the community you live in France?

Depp: Well, not necessarily the area, but that time. The ’20’s, ’30’s, ’40’s. Whether you’re talking about fashion or work and art, in any case whatever guys did, whatever women did there was a very strong sense of who was who and what was what. I think the way we are today…I suppose the easiest way to say it is that they were individuals back then. Today it seems like people are less individual, a lot less individual than they were. Most kids dress like the other kid down the street and they all talk with a kind of lingo. Back then, man, you had Cab Calloway and you had Harry The Hipster Gibson and you had Mez Mezzrow. Today you’ve got the odd one out. You’ve got Tom Waits and you had a Hunter Thompson and you’ve got a Bob Dylan. But they today they’re infinitely more sort of few and far between in my opinion.

Question: I’m surprised you’ve lived in France for so long and haven’t done a movie there. Do you have any plans to do a film there?

Depp: Well, as I was saying earlier, my dance card is a little bit thick at the moment, it’s a little bit full but I do have plans one day to do more work in France. I did do a film that I refer to as ‘The Unpronouncable’ by a guy named Yvan Attal with Charlotte Gainsbourg. I had a bit part in there. That was quite fun, doing scenes in French. In terms of the community where we live, I mean we do bits around the area and whatnot, whatever we can, whatever helps but for the most part I’ve been on location for so long now that I don’t know what time zone I’m on. Truly. I could be in Puerto Rico at the moment. I still sort of am [laughs].

Question: You talk about being comfortable in the era of John Dillinger. Do you think he’d be comfortable in this age or a duck out of water?

Depp: I think he’d probably run screaming. I truly do. It’s so wide, the world, now. I’m shocked at things that I see. I’m shocked at things that are available on the internet. I’m shocked at technology is promising in the next couple of years. There’s great and then there’s unbelievably scary, the possibilities. You can hear somewhere in the back of your mind Albert Einstein saying, ‘I don’t know how world war three will be fought, but I know how four will be fought. With sticks and stones.’ So, yeah, I think he’d run away.

Question: You played Dillinger as a man with a sense of humor. Was that in the script? Was he really a man with a sense of humor or did you add that?

Depp: Well, he definitely was a man with a sense of humor and I just happen to be a sucker for humor. So anywhere I can sneak in something that I find potentially interesting or funny I do it as much as I can get away with. But he definitely had a sense of humor, John Dillinger. This is a guy who would go to the World’s Fair at the height of his sort of notoriety, public enemy number one in 1933. He goes to the World’s Fair with his little Brownie automatic camera, hands it to a cop and says, ‘Would you take my girlfriend’s and my photograph?’ That’s a guy with a sense of humor. Also, he was a guy who at the same time as having that great, that wonderful outlook, like I said, knew the clock was ticking, knew his time was up, knew there wasn’t much more to go. He was going to make the best of it in any case. It’s pretty amazing.

Question: Can you talk about working with the HD cameras which I think is a new thing for you? Also, I have to ask about ‘Dark Shadows’ and what the status is there.

Depp: ‘Dark Shadows’ is happening. Tim is working on ‘Alice in Wonderland’ which is obviously quite a large piece of work there. So when Tim is done with ‘Alice’ and we get the script, which is very, very close, in order we’ll probably attack it next year. It’s exciting, very exciting. It’s like a lifelong dream for me.

Question: Mr. [Richard] Zanuck said that you own the rights and have been fascinated with it your whole life.

Depp: I loved the show when I was a kid. I was obsessed with Barnabas Collins. I have photographs of me holding Barnabas Collins posters when I was five or six. I’m very excited to do it. HD. I did a film with Robert Rodriguez a few years back called ‘Once Upon A Time In Mexico’ and that was all HD. That was my first experience with it. The one thing that I will say is that I suppose if you push it there’s a danger of a digital noise or something. The quality is quite good. It requires a lot less light. So there’s a lot to be said for it. There’s a lot of good. Also, it’s a fifty two minute tape and so you can kind of just keep going. Nobody has to say cut. You can just invent until you fall asleep. So all of that is good, but I still love that texture of cinema. I still love the layers of cinema whether it’s 35mm or 16mm or 8mm, super 8 which I love. I love the grain. If I had my druthers I’d film everything in kodachrome.

Question: Dillinger was a sign of his times during The Great Depression. Seeing as we’re in a recession now, do you feel that there’s a time and place for a Dillinger again, outlaw that gets a heroic status?  And as a Hollywood star do you feel the recession, and if so, how?

Depp: Most definitely. It will definitely find it’s way into your world. So, sure, I’ve been able to witness it on a lot of levels. I mean, luckily I am very, very privileged and feel very lucky to be getting work and my kiddies are not feeling the brunt of any kind of horror that’s going on today. So I’m super lucky.

Question: And what about a place for another kind of Dillinger in this era?

Depp: I don’t know. I don’t know if we make that same species of individual, truly, anymore. Dillinger, I don’t believe he went out there to kill anyone. I think he just went out there to get what he felt was rightfully his. He wanted payback. I think today we’ve gone so far technologically and also just emotionally and psychologically, I mean there’s a lot of crime out there and there’s a lot of stuff going on. People don’t care that they’re going to go to prison. They couldn’t give a rat about the repercussions. They go out and they do what they do and they don’t care about hurting anyone else. So it’s a very, very different time. I don’t know. There must be someone out there who wants to stand up and take a shot, but I don’t know if we as a species are the same as we were then.

Question: So mercury was a disease that affected hatters?

Depp: Mercury poisoning. There was mercury in the glue. So they’d start to go a little sideways [laughs].

Question: Is ‘Pirates 4′ happening?

Depp: It’s looking very good. What we’re trying to do is just get a script in order and make sure it’s the right thing to do. If we can get a great script it’d be a ball.

Question: Any comment on Megan Fox saying she wants to be your wife?

Depp: Oh, really? Where is she? That’s very sweet. Very sweet.

After years of sitting on Paramount Vantage’s shelf collecting dust, “Carriers” is finally getting a theatrical release this September. You may be wondering what motivated the studio. I’ve got two words for you…Chris Pine.

You see, years ago, before he was cast as the new James Tiberius Kirk, Chris Pine made “Carriers” along with Lou Taylor Pucci, Piper Perabo and Emily VanCamp. With the skyrocketing success of “Star Trek”, Paramount Vantage is clearly trying to capitalize of his new found fame with this release. And you know what, it’s probably going to work. If you’d like to learn more about the movie and see the first trailer, it’s after the jump:

The synopsis is a group of four friends are fleeing a viral pandemic. For more, check out the trailer. “Carriers” infects theaters September 4th.

While it’s been kind of quiet on the giveaway front of late, that all changes tonight. That’s because with the July 15^th release date of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (TM)” fast approaching, I’ve been given some great “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (TM)” merchandise to giveaway. Since I want to let as many people win as possible, every winner will get one item. And to make it nice and fair, it’s all going to be random. When I pack up the boxes/envelopes, I’m going to grab a random item so you really won’t know what you’ve won till you get a package in the mail. Curious what’s available? It’s all after the jump:

So you’re probably asking how you can win. Here’s what you need to do….

Email thecollidermailbox@gmail.com

In the headline say Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince TM Giveaway

In the body of the email please provide your name and address and if you win, you’ll get an email from me and soon after you’ll get something in the mail.

Finally, this contest ends July 21^st at noon Pacific Time and is only open to residents of the United States. Also, only one entry per person is allowed. More than one and I’ll just delete all your entries.

And now, here’s what you can win…as I said…lot’s of cool stuff. The pictures are further down the page.

• 1          Quidditch Bag
• 1          Mask Paperweight Set
• 2          Laptop Sleeve with Embroidered Patch
• 2          Slughorn Hat with Screen-print & Patch
• 2          Avada Kedavra T-shirt
• 2          Kids’ custom dyed Slub Worm Potter Quidditch T-shirt
• 2          Kids’ custom dyed Girl’s G. Weasley Ultra Worm T-shirt
• 2          Women’s Avada Kedavra T-shirt with Velvet Print
• 2          Sublimated Luna Lovegood Women’s T-shirt
• 2          Next Level Quidditch T-shirt
• 2          Nose Biting Tea Cup
• 2          4″ x 6″ Tattoo Sheets
• 2          Square Button Sets
• 10       Soundtracks — The Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince^TM Soundtrack is available July 14^th

and from WBShop.com…

• 1          Official Harry Potter Hogwarts Gryffindor House Pen (This die cast pen is plated in 24K gold and silver and richly enameled.  It measures approximately 7 inches in length.)
• 1          Super-soft 100% cotton Marauders Map beach towel measures approximately 54 inches long by 27 inches wide and displays the message, Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauders Map.  This is a wb.shop.com exclusive!

GOOD NEWS!  WB Shop.com is offering Collider visitors a coupon.  At checkout, enter the code HALFBLOOD5 for $5 off any order of $25 or more, good only for purchases of Harry Potter official merchandise.

“Be the first to know!  Receive exclusive Warner Bros. Movie News Updates!”

Synopsis:

In “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (TM)” , Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was.  Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching.  Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information.

Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts.  Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas.  And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn’t counted on Romilda Vane’s chocolates!  And then there’s Hermione, simmering with jealousy but determined not to show her feelings.  As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof.  He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one.  Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

“Check out the official site” www.harrypotter.com.

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LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:

IN NO EVENT WILL THE WBEI BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF ANY ACCESS TO AND/OR USE OF THE SWEEPSTAKES SITE, THE DOWNLOADING FROM AND/OR PRINTING MATERIAL DOWNLOADED FROM THE SWEEPSTAKES SITE, THE REMOVAL FROM THE SWEEPSTAKES SITE OF, OR DISCONTINUATION OF ACCESS TO, ANY MATERIALS, OR THE ACCEPTANCE, POSSESSION, USE, OR MISUSE OF, OR ANY HARM RESULTING FROM THE ACCEPTANCE, POSSESSION, USE OR MISUSE OF, OR PARTICIPATION IN, ANY PRIZE AWARDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE SWEEPSTAKES.  WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, THE SWEEPSTAKES, ALL PRIZES, AND ALL MATERIALS PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH THE SITE ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

Director Michael Mann marches to the beat of his own drummer and I dig him for that.  He’s practically an indie director operating in mainstream Hollywood and gets to play with a lot of money and yet his films tend to lack commercial appeal once you strip away the stars and the premise.  Regardless of what you think of “Ali” or “Miami Vice”, were those films what you expected?  With “Public Enemies”, Mann has pulled yet another switcheroo, pulling in viewers with a tantalizing promise of “Heat” with 1930s gangsters and instead providing a cool and cerebral take on self-reflexive celebrity that may be intellectually rewarding but delivers few thrills.

Choosing to open with a bang, “Public Enemies” breaks out with a prison break-out with John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) engineering an escape of former associates only to have his main target, Walter Dietrich die during the escape.  Refusing to slow down, the film takes us to one of Dillinger’s safe houses and then we get to see him rob a bank before we’re suddenly introduced to his eventual antagonist, Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), who at the time of Dillinger’s crime spree is busy gunning down criminal “Pretty Boy” Floyd (Channing Tatum in a “blink-or-you’ll-miss-it” role) and moving up in the ranks of what will become the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Naturally, the film’s attempt at momentum comes from the chase where Purvis attempts to capture and/or kill Dillinger and Dillinger watches his care-free life style crumble away as justice closes in around him.

This is the bare plot but “Public Enemies” wants to stay as detached from gritty reality as possible in terms of history or character.  Many have questioned Mann’s decision to using digital cameras to shoot a film set in the 1930s.  It eventually becomes clear that Mann is using the cameras for the glossy effect they provide as his film isn’t about cops and robbers but about notions of reflexive perception and how men choose to see themselves and their actions and the dangers of buying into your own hype.  It’s a post-modern concept and one where Mann wants to utilize modern technology.

Sadly, the film is more about an IDEA than story or characters.  It’s shockingly cerebral and cold for a gangster film with his leading actors having hardly anything to work with.  The film revolves around Dillinger (Purvis is almost a non-entity in terms of character; he’s a plot device and a poorly implemented one at that) and Depp understands that Dillinger is a man whose confidence is his greatest asset and his greatest weakness.  He speaks in platitudes and doesn’t think about tomorrow (even though his heists show he’s an expert at planning), and approaches the world not like a real person, but like a Hollywood facsimile.  The film’s arc is about Dillinger slowly having reality crush his fantasy world of bank robberies and notoriety but we never learn what turned him into that man in the first place.  The film refuses to touch anything real until the third act when Dillinger has lost everyone and is clinging to his former life by the skin of his teeth.  But this glossy reflection ill-serves the story because there’s nothing for audiences to grab on to except THE IDEA.  Moreover, it’s an idea we’ve already seen explored and rarely is it particularly fulfilling.  The criminal realizing his legend in his own time was done far better in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” because that film not only had a greater confidence in its entire production, but it understood that audiences need something real for a story based in history (unless it’s outright parody) and that’s what Andrew Dominik and Casey Afflect provided in the character of Bob Ford.

I can appreciate directors for not giving audiences what they expect.  Playing into audience expectations can usually be the kiss of death because it will result in a boring and predictable movie.  But “Public Enemies” is a middling film that loves what it’s about but has no real passion for its own story.  The big action scenes with handheld camera shots and deafening audio mix (I heard every single bullet fired) feel like over-compensating, as if the film is apologizing for not giving an exciting gangster flick but a more cerebral take that feels out of place at the height of the summer movie season.  I love films that are intellectually engaging but they have to take me new places and provide fresh ideas.  Being entertaining doesn’t hurt either.  Sadly, “Public Enemies” is too slick and cold in its reflexivity and there’s nothing for audiences to grab on to.

Rating —– C

While the premise of “Going the Distance”, a romantic comedy about a long-distance relationship starring Justin Long and Drew Barrymore, doesn’t seem appealing to me in any way, I can no longer completely dismiss it as it has now cast “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star and co-creator Charlie Day and Christina Applegate aboard.  While I think Applegate is terrific (she really held her own against her four male co-stars in “Anchorman”), I’m really psyched about Day co-starring in the film.  He’ll play Long’s best friend while Applegate will play Barrymore’s sister.  No word yet if Day’s character will be addicted to huffing spray paint and doing impressions of Serpico.

But you remember how I was bitching earlier today about why we don’t get more “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”?  Yeah, I was pretty much talking out of my ass because in addition to reporting on this casting, The Hollywood Reporter notes that “It’s Always Sunny” is pretty much a year-round gig for Day and his co-stars/co-creators Glenn Howerton and Rob McElhenney.  So if you’re wondering why you haven’t seen more of these guys in movies, it’s because they’re working on the show from November through July.  Oh, and they’re also developing another series called “Boldly Going Nowhere” for Fox and maybe even a stage production of the episode “The Nightman Cometh” that would play in New York and Philadelphia.  You know, because they didn’t have enough work already.

For my final interview from this year’s Saturn Awards, I bring you one of the leads on CBS’s awesome sitcom “The Big Bang Theory”. If you watch the show, you know how funny Jim Parsons is as Sheldon Cooper, Ph.D. Each week I’m amazed at how much nerdy dialogue Jim is forced to say, and after speaking with him, he admitted that all the things he says are foreign to him. Yes, it’s all an act…Jim isn’t a geek. Nevertheless, his work is always great and if you read sites like Collider and you aren’t watching “The Big Bang Theory”, you’re definitely missing out on a show you’d enjoy.

Anyway, after the jump you can see Jim talk about Comic-Con, what it’s like to lose his anonymity, did he buy anything special after getting a two season pick-up, what filming in front of an audience is like, and what is he looking forward to this season. Oh and we talked about rock, paper, scissors, Spock.

If you’re a fan of his show, you’ll love the interview. Take a look:

And one last thing, if you missed my video interviews with Simon Helberg (Wolowitz) and Johnny Galecki (Leonard), just click on their names.

Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, Ph.D.

• Saturn Awards talk
• Comic-Con talk - what is he looking forward to this year
• What is it like losing some of his anonymity
• With a two year pick-up is he getting a new car
• Has anyone from Pasadena ever asked him any questions about his TV show job
• Rock, paper, scissors, Spock talk
• What is it like on set when they are getting ready to shoot
• What is he looking forward to exploring with the characters over the next two years

I’m very late to the “Dexter” party. While many folks told me to tune in, I only recently watched Showtime’s hit show and have to say…it’s as great as everyone says. If you aren’t familiar with the show, “Dexter” is about a Miami blood splatter specialist who moonlights as a serial killer. The twist is that he was trained from a young age to hunt down and kill other killers. Trust me, the show is extremely well written and each season has a great arc.

So now that you know how I feel about the show, you’ll understand how excited I was to interview Jennifer Carpenter - who plays Dexter’s sister - at last week’s Saturn Awards. Unlike when I interviewed her for “Quarantine“, this time I was very familiar with her show and tried to ask as many fan questions as I could think of. So after the jump you can watch Jennifer talk about Dexter’s 4th season and she says the first shot of episode one is going to make “Dexter” fans very happy. Take a look:

Jennifer Carpenter

• Dexter 4th season talk
• Says they have filmed the first two episodes. Starts this October. She isn’t told how the season is going to go. Finds out script to script.
• Says the very first shot of the first episode is intense. She thinks Dexter fans are going to be very happy
• The Factory talk - a movie she shot on hiatus
• Says she has a contract for five years

You’re probably asking yourself…how many interviews did Steve do at this year’s Saturn Awards! As I said the night of the ceremony, I interviewed over 20 people and it’s taking some time to get them all online. But with the lack of any major news the week before a major holiday, I thought it would be better to spread them out over a few days. Saying that, tonight is the last of them.

Anyway, the interview you’re about to watch is with Justin Hartley. On “Smallville”, Justin plays Oliver Queen/The Green Arrow. With production getting ready for “Smallville’s” 9^th and possible last season, Justin talked about his favorite episodes from last season, Comic-Con, does he think this is going to be it, his thoughts on General Zod coming to “Smallville”, and a lot more. If you’re a “Samllville” fan, I’m sure you’ll like the interview, so take a look:

Justin Hartley

• Comic-Con talk
• What was his favorite episode from last season
• General Zod talk
• Any chance of a Smallville TV movie after the 9^th season ends
• Thoughts on Smallville going to Friday nights
• Is this going to be the last season
• Has he seen the script for the season premiere

“Funny People” is continuing its viral onslaught with laughyourdickoff.com, homepage to the character “Randy”, or, as he is more affectionately known, “RAAAAAANDY!”  This past January at the stand-up showcase “A Night of Funny People”, everyone I spoke with who attended unanimously reported that “Randy” (played by comedian and IMAX Foe Aziz Ansari) absolutely stole the show.  This new website lets you know why.  This may not be your type of humor and you may not get the joke (he’s not exactly riffing off Dane Cook but it’s close; Dane Cook doesn’t have a guy behind him as a comedy back-up), but I can definitely understand why he was such a riot with the audience.

The site has four clips from Randy’s act and a couple of them are from “A Night of Funny People“.  I haven’t seen “Funny People” yet but I hope that they haven’t spoiled the character with this.  Actually, I just used the soundboard again.  It can’t be spoiled.

Hit the jump to hear about Randy’s problem with Smart Type (it’s from a site called “laughyourdickoff.com” but just in case you couldn’t figure it out, it’s not safe for work if your work doesn’t appreciate naughty language). “Funny People” hits theatres on July 31st.

If you dug that clip, click here for three more.

In what is perhaps one of the most ill-advised drink names in recent memory, “GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra” and 7-Eleven have teamed up to bring folks a new slurpee flavor called (and I wish I was making this up) “Liquid Artillery”.  Apparently,”Piss Rifle”, “Electric Jism”, and “Ipecac” were already taken.  Also, the convenience marts will offer “GO JOE” Cappuccino because nothing says I’m a mature coffee drinker like slapping “Go Joe” on your beverage.

In a comment that I pray was uttered through gritted teeth, Jay Wilkins, 7-Eleven brand manager for cold beverages, had this to say: “G.I. JOE is probably the best-known boy’s toy in the world.* The movie has a ready-made audience of boys and men who played with G.I. JOE, and we want to bring back some of those great childhood memories by promoting ‘G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ with a great, new Slurpee drink, fun cups and straws.” Yes, because nothing says “I am a man” quite like “fun cups and straws”.

Check out images of what men drink their “Liquid Artillery” from after the jump.  “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” hits theatres on August 7th.

*Other than Legos and Fleshlights.

Focus Features continues to make the smart moves in selling Shane Acker’s upcoming animated film “9″ by focusing on the aesthetic. It’s captivating and eye-catching and since the film doesn’t open with the words “Pixar” or “DreamWorks Animation”, it needs to sell on its look.

These eight character posters for the nine characters of “9″ (3 and 4 share a poster) do a cool job showing off all the characters as well as the post-apocalyptic wasteland they inhabit.

Hit the jump to see all the posters in our new gallery - along with short descriptions of each of the characters. “9″ hits theatres on September 9th.

1 -Voiced by one of the world’s most respected actors, Christopher Plummer, 1 is the Scientist’s first creation. As the elder, he is the self-declared leader of the group. He is clever and sly, but also domineering, quick-tempered, and threatened by the new arrival of 9, whose higher intellect leads him to question authority.

2 -Voiced by Academy Award Winner Martin Landau, 2 is a kindly but now frail inventor and explorer who embodies the Scientist’s strong creative spirit. An inquisitive personality, 2 is fearless. /Director Shane Acker/ affectionately describes him as a “salty old dog”.

3/4 -Communicating visually, not verbally, 3 and 4 are the scholarly twins who voraciously catalogue everything they can see and find, recording and building a massive database for the group of the world that surrounds them and the history that led up to their creation.

5 -Voiced by Academy Award nominee John C. Reilly, 5 is a caring, nuturing engineer - the loyal, big-hearted “common man” who always tries to play the peacemaker. He is also an apprentice of 2, with whom he shares a special bond.

6 - 6, the group’s visionary is voiced by Crispin Glover. Although reclusive and eccentric, his bursts of artistic inspiration through drawings made from his pen nib hands may be keys to help his fellow stitchpunk beings navigate their darkest hours.

7 -A brave and self-sufficient warrior, 7, voiced by Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, is the group’s sole female. A fiercely independent adventuress she has been out patrolling the wasteland. To survive, she has adapted, finding the bones of a deceased bird and crafting her signature skull helmet.

8 -Armed with a giant kitchen cleaver and half a scissor blade, the none-too-bright muscle and enforcer of the group, 8, is created to help the others physically survive the dangerous post-apocalyptic world.

9 -To voice the lead role of the newly born - and aborning hero — 9, Acker couldn’t help but have in mind an actor who was so central to the film set he had worked on years earlier in New Zealand - “The Lord of the Rings’” star Elijah Wood.

For those just tuning in, here’s a brief synopsis: When 9 (”The Lord of the Rings’” Elijah Wood) first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction.

Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good. They must take the offensive if they are to survive, and they must discover why the machines want to destroy them in the first place. As they’ll soon come to learn, the very future of civilization may depend on them.

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I need to create an ongoing series called “Matt Is Bad At His Job” when major facts about movies just go completely off my radar.  This would be one of those instances as I had no idea that Stephen Soderbergh’s upcoming film, “The Informant!” was a comedy.  I thought it was a film in the vein of “The Insider” instead of a film that would be a comedic companion piece to the “The Insider”.  I didn’t even know that the title includes an exclamation point.

But sometimes being bad at your job yields nice surprises and this new trailer for “The Informant!” is certainly one of them.  Matt Damon, being one of the best and most versatile actors working today, is getting to really indulge his comedic timing here and he looks to be completely fantastic.  It looks like Soderbergh may be delivering one of the year’s best films and one of his most fun films that doesn’t start with the word “Ocean’s”.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer. “The Informant!” hits theatres this September.

For those just tuning in, here’s a brief synopsis: The U.S. government decides to go after an agri-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president turned informant Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon).

click here for HD

When The Wire ended it was a bittersweet moment. For five seasons, The Wire showed what television could be, and that long form storytelling need not get lost in useless subplots, or characters added to reinvigorate a stale premise. Put simply, The Wire is the finest accomplishment the format has come to offer, and the only consolation was that the show never faltered, it never stopped being brilliant. Creators David Simon and Ed Burns had earned the right to fail, to take chances, to do whatever television presented them, and their follow up was the HBO miniseries Generation Kill. My review is after the jump:

For Wire-heads such as myself, there can be nothing sweeter, and it’s easy for me to describe the seven part series as the unintentional sixth season of The Wire. After covering America’s failings in police work, in unions, in politics, in the school system, and in the media, Generation Kill shows how - in a microcosm -the American military failed in its invasion of Iraq (the W one).

Following the 1^st Recon Marines, the show starts with them practicing for their upcoming activities, heading into the capital. Though there’s a wide cast of characters, the story mostly follows journalist Evan Wright (Lee Tergesen) and the group he’s embedded with, which includes Sgt. Brad Colbert (Alexander Skarsgard), Cpl. Josh Ray Pierson (James Ransone, aka Ziggy from Season 2 of The Wire), Lt. Nathaniel Flick (Stark Sands) and Lance Cpl. Harold James Trombley (Billy Lush).

One of the most amazing things David Simon and Ed Burns did in adapting Evan Wright’s book (working with directors Susanna Grant and Simon Cellan Jones) is create a narrative that has none of the hooks of standard narrative storytelling. When there’s a firefight, it doesn’t feel like the main event, as the main event is hanging out with the guys, who are trying to make their way and not die. There’s no tension about their fate, and no one is put in ridiculous jeopardy, nor is great heroism portrayed. It’s about - as was the case with The Wire - the in-between time, where these men bullshit and reveal who they are.

But just under the surface of that (even though the mini-series covers what is arguably the most successful aspect of the Iraq invasion) is how everything would go bad, and how things will fall apart. The men aren’t always told the best information about the situations they are in, where going from “only shoot if fired upon” turns quickly into “do what you have to do.” And those civilians who get caught in the cross-fire, or prisoners of war are left to the wayside, collateral damage as the planning and care for them is left to the winds. The men are under-supplied, and are constantly trying to make their situation better. One man loses his helmet, and goes through a number of alternatives, with the worst being an enemy combatant’s helmet, which results in some friendly fire. When the men finally reach Bagdad, planning is even worse, as their main goal is achieved but the results are that the people being liberated are - again - not looked after, and left to drink feces-laden water.

But even though the show ends on a heavy note, the series itself is relatively light as it is about the banter, and the characters. Some of whom are mentally unstable, but others, like Pierson, are fun to be around. You enjoy their back and forth. And where The Wire mostly kept itself free from obvious pop-culturisms, here (perhaps because of the defined timeline) there are numbers of pop culture references as songs are sung throughout. It adds to the texture, as much as the men passing around the picture of Wright’s girlfriend, or the moment when the men are rewarded with Chef Boy-r-dees and smut. You get to live with the men, and feel it, and then experience why the operation - even in its success will lead to where we are now. It’s powerful stuff.

HBO’s Blu-ray edition does the standard def version one better by offer a couple of exclusives. The show is presented in widescreen (1.78:1) and in DTS-HD 5.1 audio. Each episode comes with a military glossary, a chain of command, and Mission Maps. The latter are especially useful if you get a bit confused on who is who and where they are. The first three episodes come with commentaries by David Simon, Ed Burns and director Susanna White, while the finale comes with commentary by Simon and producer George Faber. The third disc offers the rest of the supplements, which are “Generation Kill: A conversation with 1^st Recon Marines” ( 23) which gets together Evan Wright with the real guys who were there with him. There’s a Making of (25 min.), “Eric Laden’s Video Diaries” (30 min.) where one of the actors walks through their training and the shoot, and “Deleted Dialogues” which offers five dialog sequences cut from the show (15 min.). As a whole the supplements compliment the show nicely, and give good viewpoints on the real people and how the whole thing worked. This is a must if you love David Simon, and easily the best fiction presentation of America’s current involvement in Iraq, regardless of your politics.

Alright, it’s time FX and the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” guys strike a new deal.  Getting only ten or twelve episodes out of the entire year isn’t enough.  You can’t lay a great comedy like “Wild Card, bitches!” on me and then sign off for the rest of the year.  I know it’s a tough show to make especially when you try to factor in scheduling Danny DeVito but there has to be a way to schedule these guys in for more than a measly few months out of the year, right?  They’re worth it, FX.  Cancel “Nip/Tuck” and throw your brilliant comedy series more money.

Until that happens, we’re just going to have to suffice with 12 new episodes of “It’s Always Sunny” which will debut on Thursday, September 17th at 10 PM.  That’s the same night that NBC is rolling out its Thursday night comedy line-up and frankly, watching “30 Rock” and then switching over to “It’s Always Sunny” is more laughter than a human being can sustain.  On second thought, maybe we should be grateful that we only have to survive 12 weeks of greatness.

FX also announced that the second season of “Sons of Anarchy” debuts on September 8th and the sixth season of “Nip/Tuck” debuts in October but I don’t care about either of those shows.  However, I already miss “The Shield”.

I usually don’t put a lot of weight towards the MPAA ratings but after watching this trailer for “Couples Retreat”, I need to know whether or not this film is PG-13 or R.  If it’s PG-13, I’m afraid we’re looking at a fairly toothless relationship comedy where the guys like Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, and Faizon Love are pulling their punches.

If it’s an R-rated comedy, I think we may have something look forward to.  Also, they’ve got some funny ladies in the cast and I hope we get to see more of their comedic talents than we do here. Hit the jump to watch the trailer. “Couples Retreat” hits theatres on October 9th.

Here’s the synopsis:

Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell and Faizon Love star in Universal Pictures’ upcoming comedy Couples Retreat. Based on an original idea of Vaughn’s, the comedy follows four Midwestern couples who embark on a journey to a tropical island resort.  While one of the couples is there to work on their marriage, the other three set out to jet ski, spa and enjoy some fun in the sun.  They soon discover that participation in the resort’s couples therapy is not optional.  Suddenly, their group-rate vacation comes at a price.  What follows is a hilarious look at real world problems faced by all couples.  The film also stars Kali Hawk and Jean Reno.

Click here for HD

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]]> http://www.collider.com/2009/06/30/couples-retreat-trailer-starring-vince-vaughn-jon-favreau-kristen-bell-malin-akerman-and-jason-bateman/feed/ http://www.collider.com/2009/06/30/international-trailer-for-quentin-tarantinos-inglourious-basterds/ http://www.collider.com/2009/06/30/international-trailer-for-quentin-tarantinos-inglourious-basterds/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:51:26 +0000 Matt Goldberg http://www.collider.com/?p=3231

I already know that “Inglourious Basterds” has action scenes.  I already know that Brad Pitt is chewing every piece of scenery he can find.  I know what the Basterds do and I know what they plan to do (blow up a theatre where the Nazi high command is watching a moving picture).  What I still don’t know is how Mélanie Laurent and Christoph Waltz’s character figure into this whole shebang.  We see Waltz’ “Jew Hunter” briefly at the end but not long enough to really make an impression.

Of course, Universal and The Weinstein Company are going to go on selling this as Tarantino and Pitt and I can’t really blame them.  That being said, I’m not sure how big they’re expecting this film to open and how much TWC needs it to open in order to save their company.  Of course, since I don’t work for TWC, all I care about is whether or not I’ll dig this film.  Judging from Tarantino’s track record, I’m guessing: probably.

Check out the trailer after the jump. “Inglourious Basterds” hits theatres on August 21st.

Every once in awhile I forget to post something. The interview I did with Ramon Rodriguez for “Transformers Revenge of the Fallen” was one of those things.

I probably would have completely forgotten about it, but in today’s Hero Compex on the L.A. Times website, there is a story that says Ramon’s part in “Transformers 3″ might be a lot bigger. Since many of you have now seen the movie and might want to know more about Ramon and how he got the part…I figured better late than never.

So after the jump you can hear Ramon talk about filming the movie, the viral websites, how he got into acting, and we joke around about how many beautiful women were in the University scenes. He tells me he gave Michael Bay a lot of sh*t for it. It’s a good interview so take a look:

Ramon Rodriguez

• We talk about how he used to play basketball and how that led him into acting
• Was he a fan of the first film
• What did he learn from working for Michael Bay
• What was the most challenging part of making the movie
• He talks about the viral websites created for the film and how he was involved in making them real
• Pros and cons of traveling the world to promote the film
• We talk about how many amazing looking people are in the university scenes
• Did he have a lot of friends that got to visit him on set
• What does he have coming up
• Working with Shia and Megan

]]> http://www.collider.com/2009/06/30/ramon-rodriguez-exclusive-video-interview-transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen/feed/ http://www.collider.com/2009/06/30/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-passes-400-million-worldwide/ http://www.collider.com/2009/06/30/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-passes-400-million-worldwide/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:56:23 +0000 Nicole Pedersen http://www.collider.com/?p=3220

As of Sunday the estimates for Michael Bay’s “Transformers” sequel put the film at over $201 million - just shy of the all-time five day box office record.  By Monday afternoon, however, it appeared that Paramount Pictures had been a bit over zealous in reporting their weekend estimates (they’re called estimates for a reason).  The actual weekend numbers for “Transformers 2″ came in at $198.2 million - three million under what had been reported.  But here is where it gets really complicated - Paramount also apparently UNDER reported its grosses for Wednesday and Thursday.  In the end the domestic five day total for “Tf2″ stood at about $200 million so it all evened out - pretty much.  Now on to better news for you robot lovers - Monday’s $14.8 million estimate, when added to the film’s international box office haul of $204 million brings “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” above $418 million total!!  Those fabled first five days have also given the film the biggest June debut of all time as well as the highest grossing non-holiday, non-Friday opening and the seventh biggest debut weekend overall.  I know this is getting kind of confusing so I have included an updated chart to help make sense of all the crazy:

As Ben Linus on “Lost”, Michael Emerson has surprised me week after week with what an actor can do on television. Without a doubt, his performance as Ben is one of the highlights on any network, and I’m constantly surprised by what his role calls on him to do. As I’ve said many times on Collider, I think “Lost” is the best show on television, and Michael’s work is one of the reasons I feel this way.

So when I saw him walking on the red carpet at this year’s Saturn Awards, I had a geekgasm. After all, the actors of “Lost” are always in Hawaii, so getting a chance to talk with a series regular is rare. Also, while I knew he couldn’t tell me much about the final season of “Lost”, getting to talk with him was a real thrill. So if you’re a fan of his show like I am, I’m sure you’ll love the interview. We talked about what the ride has been like for him, what was his reaction to last year’s finale, his thoughts on the final season, and I asked him what it’s like for him to go into a Starbucks…

Watch the interview after the jump:

Michael Emerson - Benjamin “Ben” Linus

• What’s been the ride like for him on “Lost”
• What is it like for him to go into a Starbucks
• What does he do when he gets the script for the next episode
• His reaction to last season’s finale
• Has he heard what the end of the show is
• His reaction to the show ending next season
• Did he do anything during the hiatus

I attended the junket for “Post Grad” this past weekend (she plays the mother of Alexis Bledel’s character in the film) and I made sure to ask the talented and quick-witted Jane Lynch about her role in Greg Mottola’s upcoming film “Paul” written by and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.  Says Lynch:

“I have a small part in PAUL with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and they’re sci-fi geeks who go on a kind of alien-trail and I play the owner of a restaurant called “The Alie-Inn”.  It’s full of paraphernalia and everything and they stop at this place and they almost get beat up by these rednecks and I come to their aid.”

The full interview with Lynch was great and given the chance to talk with her again, I’d take it in a heartbeat.  I’ll be posting it sometime later in August closer to the release of “Post Grad” but in the meantime, I wanted to give folks anxious to hear any news about “Paul” something to enjoy.