Sony Pictures has released some stills and the official trailer for one of the most anticipated films of the fall, "Moneyball", which is directed by Bennett Miller (Capote). The film is starring Brad Pitt, as Billy Beane, who is the General manager for the Oakland A's. Also co-staring are Johan Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman. "Moneyball" hits theaters in the US on September 23rd.
For more information on this film, you can check out the film's official website at: http://www.moneyball-movie.com/
Plot Synopsis:
Based on a true story, Moneyball stars Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s and the guy who assembles the team, who has an epiphany: all of baseball’s conventional wisdom is wrong. Forced to reinvent his team on a tight budget, Beane will have to outsmart the richer clubs. The onetime jock teams with Ivy League grad Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) in an unlikely partnership, recruiting bargain players that the scouts call flawed, but all of whom have an ability to get on base, score runs, and win games. It’s more than baseball, it’s a revolution – one that challenges old school traditions and puts Beane in the crosshairs of those who say he’s tearing out the heart and soul of the game.
Screening Information:
Friday September 9th
Roy Thomson
6:30pm
Toronto, Canada
Saturday September 10th
Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
2:30pm
Toronto, CA
Saturday September 17th
Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
2:30pm
Toronto, CA 
"Moneyball" Official Trailer
MEGAMIND: THE BUTTON OF DOOM will be available for a limited time only in a Double DVD Pack and in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack. The Double DVD Pack also includes a behind-the-scenes look at the cast, a peek into Megamind's lair, filmmaker commentary, a tutorial on drawing Megamind, a video comic book and much more. The Blu-ray/DVD Combo includes exclusive features such as The Animators' Corner featuring picture-in-picture storyboards, behind-the-scenes footage and insightful interviews, as well as pop-up trivia, a comic creator and more. Offering tremendous value and hours of entertainment for the whole family, the Double DVD Pack and Blu-ray/DVD Combo will be available as low as $19.99 and $24.99 respectively.
MEGAMIND Synopsis:
Packed with high-flying action and non-stop laughs, DreamWorks Animation's MEGAMIND puts a whole new hilarious twist on the superhero movie. Super villain Megamind's (Will Ferrell) dreams have come true when he captures the damsel in no distress (Tina Fey) and conquers the city's protector Metro Man (Brad Pitt), gaining control of Metro City. But when a new villain (Jonah Hill) is created and chaos runs rampant, the world's biggest "mind" and his comic sidekick Minion (David Cross) might actually be the ones to save the day.
MEGAMIND: THE BUTTON OF DOOM Synopsis:
For their first day on the job as the new protectors of Metro City, Megamind (Will Ferrell) and Minion (David Cross) are selling off the gadgets from their evil lair. But when one seemingly harmless "button" unleashes the gigantic robot MEGA-MEGAmind, the duo will have to resort to their old tricks to restore order in this all-new action-comedy from DreamWorks Animation.
DreamWorks Animation's MEGAMIND Double DVD Pack
The MEGAMIND Double DVD Pack delivers more out-of-this-world fun with bonus features including the following:
Disc 1:
MEGAMIND
Plus:
Meet the Cast of MEGAMIND
Deleted Scene
Filmmakers' Commentary
Previews
World of DreamWorks Animation: Fun-filled looks into the worlds of Shrek, How To Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar
Disc 2:
MEGAMIND: THE BUTTON OF DOOM – The brand new adventure featuring members of the original voice cast
Plus:
Inside Megamind's Lair
AnimatorMan
You Can Draw Megamind
Mega Rap
The Reign of Megamind—Video Comic Book
Spot The Difference
Minion's Zone (DVD Rom):
Printables
Links
DreamWorks Animation's MEGAMIND Blu-ray/DVD Combo
MEGAMIND
MEGAMIND: THE BUTTON OF DOOM – The brand new adventure featuring members of the original voice cast
Plus:
Exclusive Blu-ray Features:
The Animators' Corner
Trivia Track
Comic Creator
Behind the Mind
Additional Bonus Features:
Meet the Cast of MEGAMIND
Deleted Scene
Inside Megamind's Lair
AnimatorMan
You Can Draw Megamind
Mega Rap
The Reign of Megamind—Video Comic Book
Spot the Difference
Filmmakers' Commentary
Previews
World of DreamWorks Animation: Fun-filled looks into the worlds of Shrek, How To Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar
DVD:
MEGAMIND
Meet the Cast of MEGAMIND
Deleted Scene
Filmmakers' Commentary
Previews
World of DreamWorks Animation: Fun-filled looks into the worlds of Shrek, How To Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar
DreamWorks Animation's MEGAMIND DVD
The single-disc DVD includes the following:
Deleted Scene
Filmmakers' Commentary
Previews
World of DreamWorks Animation: Fun-filled looks into the worlds of Shrek, How To Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar
“Megamind” was the kind of movie I expected “Despicable Me” to be when I walked into the theater; a DreamWorks Animation film. It soon turned out that “Despicable Me” was actually a Universal Picture and not from DreamWorks. Since I have been so addicted to and in love with the computer animated epics from Pixar, I felt it was time to see how the other studios compared (if at all). For once, I would be seeing a DreamWorks animated movie without “Shrek” in the title.
But “Despicable Me” and “Megamind” do have one thing in common in that their main character is a villain, one who looks to get the most press for his devious accomplishments. The latter is set around an interesting question: what if the bad guy actually ended up defeating the hero? What would happen then? Whether or not that person works as a banker on Wall Street is beside the point. The villain finds that having all the power he desires doesn’t compare to the struggle of getting it in the first place.
The movie has a great start as it satirizes “Superman” in showing how Megamind himself (voiced by Will Ferrell) is put in a rocket by his parents and sent away to a world that isn’t on the verge of dying. Along the way, his spaceship comes into contact with another whose occupant is goody two shoes Metro Man (voiced by Brad Pitt) who ends up throwing Megamind off course to another destination on Earth. While Metro Man ends up crashing into the home of a loving well to do family, Megamind lands inside a maximum security prison and right in front of hardened inmates. Being that this is a movie for the whole family, we never see this villain in an HBO “Oz” setting or bending over for the soap.
From there, it’s a battle of wits and smarts between Metro Man and Megamind whose resentment from childhood remains unabated. But what I thought was going to be an average movie about good guys versus bad guys really surprised me in the direction it ended up taking. It’s really about Megamind getting exactly what he wants, and soon become bored because there is no one left to fight. Where he goes from there just might surprise you (I strongly stress the word “might”).
What works to the film’s advantage is how knowledgeable it is of the superhero movies we grew up with, namely “Superman.” It gleefully plays around with the superhero’s ego and how it typically gets the best of him, and of how the villain’s evil plans are no longer as scary as they are intended to be. It even gets to where TV reporter Roxanne Ritchi (voiced by Tina Fey) is actually rolling her eyes at Megamind’s threat to drop her into a watery hole with alligators (or are they crocodiles?). Once the movie does take an unexpected left turn, the story does get kind of conventional, but it becomes something that it wasn’t really advertised as.
I have to give Will Ferrell a lot of credit here because he usually just plays the same character over and over in each film he does. When it works like in movies such like “The Other Guys,” its no big deal because we are too busy laughing our asses off. But in “Megamind,” I actually forgot that it was Will Ferrell doing the voice after awhile. That’s saying a lot because his voice is so recognizable after all those years on “Saturday Night Live.” Here, we see and hear a specific character more than the man who gave us the most memorable impersonation of George W. Bush. It also probably helps that Megamind doesn’t look all that much like Ferrell, and that would still be the case if his skin weren’t so blue.
Other celebrity voices featured in “Megamind” include Brad Pitt’s who is a big hoot as the Superman-like Metro Man. Brad’s voice perfectly exudes self-confidence as he has the whole world at his feet, and it’s a great satirical take on the overbearing ego that superheroes have at their disposal and which can easily turn on them if they’re not careful. Listening to him made me wonder how much time he actually spent in the studio recording the dialogue. My guess is about one to two weeks, maybe a month. This must have been one of the easiest jobs for him.
Tina Fey brings her usual perky voice to the role as Roxanne Ritchi, and her sarcastic bite is always a lot of fun to take in. Jonah Hill, fresh off of “Get Him To The Greek” and “Cyrus,” is picture perfect as Roxanne’s cameraman Hal, who of course has the biggest crush on her which remains unrequited like most crushes are. When his heart gets shattered, he ends up doing what most guys do; destroy things at random. It actually took a bit to recognize his voice, but the hilarious David Cross is an inspired piece of casting as the voice of Minion, the henchman (or hench-fish) to Megamind and his devious plans. Other actors featured here are J.K. Simmons who voiced the Warden, Ben Stiller as Bernard, and Justin Theroux as Megamind’s father. Those last three voices I didn’t even recognize until I saw their names in the end credits (or for that matter, IMDB).
I did see “Megamind” in 3D, and the filmmakers actually made really good use of the format. It really gave more excitement to certain scenes like when the characters are on the top of very tall buildings, and I almost got a strong sense of vertigo. Ok, perhaps I am exaggerating a bit in saying that, but it’s still on my mind long after having sat through it. The technology of 3D has truly advanced to being beyond just a mere gimmick, but
Directing “Megamind” is Tom McGrath who was also responsible for one of several DreamWorks animated movies I have not yet seen, “
Look, it’s not like I expected “Megamind” to be bad or at best a decent times at the movies, but it turned out to be far better than I expected it to be. Like the best Pixar movies, it works as great entertainment not just for kids but for adults as well. It’s a clever take on superheroes, and that makes it one of the more entertaining movies of the 2010 fall season. DreamWorks Animation may still be in the shadow of Pixar, but this shows that they are moving up their game some, and it looks like they may start making more than mere products for consumption.
***½ out of ****
-Harrison Ford from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”
“You know somethin', Utivich? I think this might just be my masterpiece.”
-Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine
Could this truly be Tarantino’s masterpiece? Hard to say, but it is indeed his most ambitious movie to date. “Inglourious Basterds” is another brilliant love letter to all things cinema from Quentin Tarantino, and it ends this rather crappy summer of movies on a high note. With this film, Tarantino has created his own version of World War II and has given it the ending many of us would have preferred to have seen. It is also his tribute to movies like “The Dirty Dozen” and other war movies of its ilk. It is not a remake of the film of the same name, but it has the same title of it out of respect.
“Inglourious Basterds” is told in a series of chapters, and it features several different threads of story that eventually intersect at the film’s fiery climax. We meet our chief Nazi villain, Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) as he questions a family as to whether or not they are hiding any Jews, but we soon realize that he is asking questions he already knows the answers to. Then we are introduced to the Basterds themselves, and they are lead by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) who announces that they are being dropped into Nazi occupied France to do one thing and one thing only, killing Nazis. Not only that, they plan to take souvenirs to show Germany they mean business. Then we meet Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), the only Jew to escape Col. Landa’s deadly grasp, who has found a safe hiding place as the owner of a German cinema which will soon host the most powerful members of the Nazi party for a film opening gala. Little do they know of the act of brutal vengeance which will eventually greet them…
At a running time of 153 minutes, “Inglourious Basterds” is one of those rare movies that really takes its time. There’s no big rush to get from one big action set piece to the next which has been the case with just every movie that gets released in the summer. Even while The Weinstein Company had to work with Universal Pictures to get this film, Tarantino still gets full creative control which is a blessing for those of us who love his films. We also get the great dialogue we have come to expect from Mr. Tarantino, and there are moments where words speak louder than actions. There are many verbal duels between characters as each one tries to outdo the other, and what is implied by them ends up generating an amazing amount of tension.
Tarantino also retains his keen eye for casting, and he has said that one of the actors he chose had in fact given him back his movie. That actor would be Christoph Waltz who plays the intelligent but deadly Col. Hans Landa. Christoph won the Best Actor award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and the way I see it, they should just hand him the damn Oscar come next March. Brilliant almost seems too subtle a description to describe his performance. His role is an extremely difficult one to pull off because he has to come off a certain way while allowing us to see in his eyes what he already knows. Christoph comes off with simple gestures that has us unnerved, and a key moment where he deals with another one of the main characters is great cat and mouse moment where he is trying to figure out the person he sees before him while she tries to remain calm and hide who she really is. Waltz’s opening scene with the French farmer is remarkable in how he psychologically tears him down to where he finally reveals what Landa already knows.
I’m not sure if I have seen Christoph Waltz in any other movies before, but I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future. Seriously, his character is to “Inglourious Basterds” what Heath Ledger’s Joker was to last year’s “The Dark Knight.”
Then we have Brad Pitt who I am glad to see get down and dirty after being all cute and cuddly in the very good but somewhat overrated “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” As Lt. Aldo Raine, he starts off by giving a speech to his men that makes him come off like George C. Scott in “Patton.” It is clear from the start that Pitt is having a ball playing this character and saying the dialogue Tarantino has written. Brad looks like he managed to save some of the manic energy from “Burn After Reading” for this role, and while his performance comes close to caricature at times, he has rooting for him throughout as he manages to outsmart the devious Nazi’s.
Quentin also continues to prove great at writing strong roles for women. Mélanie Laurent does great work here as Shosanna Dreyfus, the Jewish woman who is the only survivor of one of Landa’s murderous rampages. Throughout the movie, she goes from playing it cool around the Nazis to being terrified as she comes under close examination from them. She has managed to maintain her cover as a German while running her own cinema, and she also has to fend off the advances of Pvt Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl) who is something of a pop star in the Nazi party when he meets her. She also has a strong relationship with her boyfriend projectionist Marcel (Jacky Ido) which allows her to show compassion she would otherwise have to keep hidden from the prying eyes of those out to eliminate the Jews. Mélanie gets to portray many different facets of her character throughout the movie’s running time, and her performance is every bit as memorable to me as was Christoph Waltz’s.
I also got a big kick out of Diane Kruger’s highly entertaining performance as film star Bridget von Hammersmark, a Marlene Dietrich of sorts. She is a wonderful performance as she goes from an outgoing actress who always seems to enjoy the company of others to a tough woman who shares in the Basterds passion of doing in the Nazis, most especially Hitler. Best known for her work in “National Treasure” and “Troy” among other movies, she really comes into her own here and gives a performance unlike any she has previously given.
“Inglourious Basterds” has a great cast overall with other memorable turns from actors like Michael Fassbender as a British spy posing as a German officer and from Sylvester Groth as the irrepressibly snooty Joseph Goebbels. It’s also a hoot to see Mike Meyers here in a “guest starring” role as a British general, and it almost fully makes up for the mess he inflicted on us last summer with “The Love Guru.” Eli Roth, the “torture porn” director of movies like “Hostel” is also on board as Sgt. Donny Donowitz, aka “The Bear Jew.” Although this role was originally intended for Adam Sandler who had to decline because he was making “Funny People,” it almost makes sense that the “Hostel” director would play a soldier who beats Nazis to death with a baseball bat.
Many of Tarantino’s favorite movie devices are on display here like the “Mexican standoff” and all the talk about movies. But here, they feel much more fresh and exhilarating to watch in the way they are portrayed. The scene in the German bar where one Nazi soldier is celebrating the birth of his son may seem almost too long, but Quentin builds the scene to a fever pitch of tension as everyone has their gun on the other, and you watch in terrifying anticipation of who will shoot first. With the character of Shosanna, Quentin takes the time to express his love of foreign cinema. In his other movies, especially the “Death Proof” portion of “Grindhouse,” he mostly speaks of his affection for American movies and pop culture, but his love of cinema certainly does not stop there.
Quentin also gives us another one of his great soundtracks that is a collection of film scores from other movies, and songs that capture the essence of the characters to the letter. Interestingly enough, much of the music is not of the WWII period, and Tarantino even uses David Bowie’s theme song from Paul Schrader’s 1980’s remake of “Cat People” to perfectly capture Shosanna in her final preparations for revenge. As with the “Kill Bill” movies, he makes effective use of the film scores of Ennio Morricone who remains a big influence on his own work. It didn’t take me long after seeing the movie to buy the soundtrack (I wish it was on sale though).
Many will complain of how inaccurate this film is to the historical facts of Hitler and WWII, but they are just wasting their own time. We should all know by the time we head into the theater that Tarantino is not out to be anymore historically accurate than Michael Mann was with “Public Enemies.” Every once in a while, you need a movie that breaks the rules, and it is such infectious fun to see “Inglourious Basterds” break down the normal conventions of how a WWII is made. So many of them over the past couple of years tend to be depressing affairs over the humanity lost, but Quentin is out to do the exact opposite of that. His WWII movie is a fantastic genre movie that borrows from many movies and Quentin is still genius at taking elements from them all and making them all his own.
2009 has been a bad year for movies so far, but “Inglourious Basterds” is one of the best of the year and is yet another cinematic triumph for Quentin Tarantino that shows he is no one trick pony. I just hope we don’t have to wait another six years for his next one.
**** out of ****
I’m not going to bother comparing their newest film to “No Country For Old Men” because the only thing these two movies have in common is that they were made by the same people. It’s like comparing the Marx Brothers’ “Duck Soup” to Lars Von Trier’s “Breaking The Waves,” and that threatens to say more about the critic than it does about the movies themselves. This particular film is one of the more lightweight efforts you could ever expect from Joel and Ethan, and it is a reminder of how dark their comedy can get.
“Burn After Reading” is a crazy movie to say the least, and it does not really have so much a plot as it does a plethora of characters that are unleashed on us through an a selfish act of utter stupidity. As a result, there is no rug of any kind that can tie the room together. The main drive of the action comes from Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) who discovers a disk at the gym he works at as a personal trainer which contains classified information from a former CIA operative, Osborne Cox (John Malkovich). Along with his fellow co-worker, Linda Litzke (the always on her game Frances McDormand), they both connive to act as “good Samaritans” and give the disk back to Osborne, providing that he pays them several thousands of dollars as a reward of sorts. Naturally, this plan (which was not given much thought to begin with) goes awry and involves many others in this scheme that are never entirely sure of what they have gotten themselves into, or of who they can trust.
Let’s look at the characters, shall we? Chad is a personal trainer at the Hardbodies gym who is (to put it mildly) rather dense and not playing with a full deck. His manager, Ted Treffon (Richard Jenkins from “The Visitor” and “North Country) doesn’t want to get involved in this blackmail plan, but he simultaneously has a huge unrequited crush on Linda, and she is upset because her insurance won’t cover the various forms of plastic surgery she wants to get so that she can reinvent herself. In the meantime, she is going through the motions of internet dating and ends up meeting Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney). Harry is actually married and is in the midst of an affair with Osborne’s wife, Katie (“Michael Clayton” Oscar winner Tilda Swinton), and she herself is planning to divorce her husband who is now in the midst of writing his memoirs. In the midst of all this, a CIA officer (David Rasche) reports to his superior (the priceless J.K. Simmons) of the goings on, and of the ways they are going to keep this all under wraps.
With me so far? Clearly, this is a movie that will benefit from more than one viewing to keep up with everything. Like I said, there is no real plot to speak of, other than the blackmail of Osborne Cox. While in some movies this would be a huge Achilles heel, it works for the Coens in that it allows you to keep guessing as to what will happen next. Just when you think you know where the movie is going, it has another surprise up its sleeve. There were moments that were both funny and shocking, and I was eager to see what would happen next. This is really Joel and Ethan’s satirical at all those secret spy/espionage books and movies that still remain almost as popular as when they first started.
Granted, not everything in the movie works. There seems to be some sort of comedy virus going around this past summer which certainly hasn’t decimated any of the ones I have seen, but they have all come across as hit and miss. But once again, the stuff that does work kept me thoroughly entertained throughout. The movie combines a lot of actors that the brothers Coen have worked with over the years like George Clooney and Frances McDormand, with newcomers to their strange universe like John Malkovich and Brad Pitt. It’s a kick to see all these actors let their hair down in a movie that is never to be taken seriously by either them or the audience.
The most inspired performance in this movie has to be Brad Pitt’s. Clean shaven, thin, buff, and an avid bicycle rider, his character is a hilarious creation of a physically fit moron who has no clear idea of just how in over his head he is. It is Brad’s funniest performance since his ultimate stoner of a character Floyd in “True Romance.” The Brad Pitt that we have come to see in the media recently is not at all on display in this movie. It’s like Brad has somehow regressed from his rugged self back to his post “Thelma & Louise” movies.
Another actor who is a huge kick to watch here is George Clooney as he blows away just every bit of coolness in his system to play an increasingly neurotic philanderer who always seems to be on the verge of anaphylactic shock as he keeps warning everyone he hangs out with about his life threatening allergies. Just a year ago, George gave us one of his very best performances in “Michael Clayton,” and to see him let loose here is a reminder of how he constantly tries in his real life to not take himself too seriously. It also makes you wonder if he and Tilda Swinton will ever be in a movie together where they play characters that actually have a healthy relationship with each other.
It’s actually kind of hard to see that this is the first time that John Malkovich has ever worked with the Coen brothers. Malkovich lets it all out here as CIA operative who quits his job after he is demoted in part because of his “drinking problem.” To see John got nuts over the complete idiots he has to deal with is such a hoot. Not many actors can play a character that is quick to absorb the situation they are in, yet are still in the dark when it comes to the truth of the matter. Malkovich may prefer the stage to the big screen as an artist, but it is always great to see him do his thing in a movie like this. It may be his most inspired performance since he played himself in “Being John Malkovich.”
The rest of the cast brings their A game to movie as well. Frances McDormand, in her first movie with Joel and Ethan since her Oscar winning turn in “Fargo,” is one of the movie’s more lovable characters (in a manner of speaking) as a woman who wants to be free of the ravages of getting older that she plans to go to unhealthy extremes to get them. Give Frances the smallest role in a movie, and she kicks ass every time. The fact that it took so long for her husband and brother-in-law to get her back into one of their movies almost feels like a crime.
Richard Jenkins seems to be having a great year right now with “The Visitor” and this. He gives us perhaps the saddest character we hope we don’t have to be throughout our whole lives. You know, that one person who is forever punished eternally with the pangs of unrequited love. Throughout the movie, Richard shows you in his eyes of how much he wants to be with Frances. Jenkins seems to be getting his due as a character actor which is great, and he never seems to fail in any role he plays.
And I loved the scenes between David Rasche and J.K. Simmons in the offices of the CIA and how flippant they seemed about the situations in this movie. I have yet to see another movie where you have CIA members seem rather laid back in the decisions they make. It never comes down to what is best for their country to these two guys, but of how to make this not get too overwhelming and hectic. Their inconvenience is the biggest problem because it involves secrets getting out, and of more responsibility and paperwork. Who needs that?
“Burn After Reading” is a comedy classic like “The Big Lebowski” or “Raising Arizona,” and it probably won’t have the staying power of those films either. But it sure is a lot of fun and filled with a lot more daring and originality than some movies that I have seen recently (namely “Righteous Kill”). Many have described it as a “trifle” from the Coens, and that doesn’t seem far from the truth. All the same, you have to admire the insane amount of character interaction that this movie accomplishes. Just when everything is about to fall apart for everybody, it does, just not completely.
***1/2 out of ****
