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10 Disaster Movies to Die For

by Kyle Rupprecht | Published Aug. 28, 2008 20:08

A cruise ship filled with joyous passengers gets caught in a tsunami and rapidly starts sinking. A catastrophic asteroid, with the power to wipe out the entire human race, hurtles towards Earth. An underground volcano, dormant for thousands of years, unexpectedly sputters back to life in New York City, while a deadly virus is simultaneously unleashed on the population in the midst of a record-shattering earthquake... These are just a few of the common scenarios found in a disaster movie, one of the most audacious and crowd-pleasing subgenres of Hollywood moviemaking. (No comments yet)

David Kaplan Celebrates Year of the Fish

by Jessica Wall | Published Aug. 28, 2008 20:08

David Kaplan’s first feature film, Year of the Fish, may be a retelling of Cinderella. But with the title character toiling away in a Chinatown massage parlor while her “stepsisters” engage in sex work, it’s a far cry from the Disney classic. The animated movie (live-action sequences were shot and then digitally painted over, giving it a look similar to Richard Linklater's Waking Life) is an updated retelling of the oldest known Cinderella story, a Chinese version recorded circa 850 A.D. (No comments yet)

Warner Bros. Remains Firm on Towelhead

by Kyle Rupprecht | Published Aug. 28, 2008 11:08

Recently the Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR) asked Warner Bros. and Warner Independent Pictures to change the title of Alan Ball's upcoming film, Towelhead. Warner Bros. has refused to change the name and, several days ago, writer-director Alan Ball expressed in a statement why the title would remain. Now, Alicia Erian, author of the novel on which the film is based, and Warner Independent Pictures have released their own statements explaining the reasoning behind their decision.
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Neal McDonough’s Golden Rules

by Neal McDonough | Published Aug. 27, 2008 08:08

Neal McDonough has come a long way since his debut film role as Dockworker #2 in Sam Raimi's 1990 comic book adaptation Darkman. After brief appearances on a bevy of television shows, including "Murphy Brown," "NYPD Blue" and "Murder One," McDonough landed a starring role in the Steven Spielberg-produced miniseries "Band of Brothers." Spielberg liked the actor's work on the project so much that he asked McDonough to act in his then-upcoming futuristic flick, Minority Report. Since then McDonough has enjoyed more starring TV roles, in the Peabody Award-winning "Boomtown" and the Wizard of Oz-reworking "Tin Man," as well as parts in Flags of Our Fathers, The Guardian, 88 Minutes and Jeffrey Nachmanoff's Traitor, which is in theaters now.

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Jeffrey Nachmanoff Discovers a Traitor

by Andrew Gnerre | Published Aug. 26, 2008 11:08

After working as a script doctor for several years, Jeffrey Nachmanoff got his first major credit as the screenwriter of the box office hit The Day After Tomorrow, which he co-wrote with director Roland Emmerich. Now he's getting a chance to show he can do it all himself with the release of Traitor, which hits theaters on August 27th. The film, which stemmed from an idea from Steve Martin (yes, Three Amigos Steve Martin), was written and directed by Nachmanoff and stars Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce. Shortly before the film's release, Nachmanoff talked with MM about the luxury of starting a screenplay with the end already in place and the challenges (and perks) of directing actors who only speak Arabic.

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Rainn Wilson’s Big Break

by Mallory Potosky | Published Aug. 22, 2008 00:08

It’s hit or miss when cast members from NBC’s “The Office” land themselves a lead role in a big-screen comedy. Steve Carell’s turn as The 40-Year-Old Virgin propelled his already growing popularity while John Krasinski, the show’s romantic everyman, just couldn’t appeal to enough swooning fans to make License to Wed a box office success. But like Carell, Rainn Wilson’s television alter-ago, beet farmer Dwight Schrute, is not exactly the most respected employee at Dunder Mifflin. Maybe that bodes well for the Seattle native, who will next be seen as the star of Peter Cattaneo’s The Rocker.
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The House Bunny Visits the Playboy Mansion

by Beth Levin | Published Aug. 22, 2008 00:08

Scantily clad girls running around in pink miniskirts, ultra high heels and little white bunny ears: Does this image sound familiar? Probably not from firsthand experience—only a select few have breached those exclusive gates—but it's certainly a known piece of pop culture trivia. The notorious Playboy Mansion, home to the ultimate playboy, Hugh Hefner, and his buxom blonde girlfriends, is known around the world with help from its various film and TV appearances. This week's release, The House Bunny, takes the idea of the Playboy empire to another level. (1 comment)

Paul W.S. Anderson’s Rules Can Be Deadly

British action director Paul W.S. Anderson shares his Golden Rules for Making Movies

by Paul W.S. Anderson | Published Aug. 22, 2008 00:08

British action master Paul W.S. Anderson reveals his Golden Rules for Moviemaking just as his latest film, Death Race, hits theaters. (No comments yet)

Kodak Announces Eastman Scholarships and Faculty Scholars

by Beth Levin | Published Aug. 16, 2008 09:08

The winners of the 2008 Eastman Scholarship and the Kodak Faculty Scholars Program were announced at the 62nd annual University Film & Video Association Conference in Colorado on August 13th. (No comments yet)

Rocco DeVilliers Takes Off With The Flyboys

by Beth Levin | Published Aug. 15, 2008 15:08

The Flyboys is not your typical coming of age story. This adventure movie follows the story of two young boys who accidentally end up aboard an airplane that just so happens to be owned by the mob. Writer, director and producer Rocco DeVilliers took charge of the film, which stars young actor Jesse James and the veteran Stephen Baldwin. DeVillliers has taken The Flyboys around the festival circuit this summer and has already generated positive feedback, garnering more than 45 awards so far. (No comments yet)

Elizabeth Chandler Sticks with the Sisterhood

by Jessica Wall | Published Aug. 15, 2008 15:08

From A Little Princess to What a Girl Wants to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Elizabeth Chandler has made a career out of writing movies that feature female protagonists. Her latest project, this summer’s The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, is the story of “four young women who share an unbreakable bond” and was adapted from Ann Brashares’ best-selling book series. Previously, it was Chandler who brought Sarah Crewe of the Frances Hodgson Burnett classic A Little Princess to the screen for the 1995 film of the same name. And it was her again who adapted Laura Zigman’s novel Animal Husbandry into 2001’s Someone Like You, starring Ashley Judd as the lovelorn Jane Goodale, who takes romantic matters into her own hands. Throughout her career Chandler has managed to adeptly adapt plucky heroines from the page to the screen. This year proves no different. (No comments yet)

Shakespeare on Film: Titus

In MM's 12th week of Shakespeare on Film, Julie Taymor's imagination takes viewers through Shakespeare's darkest hour

by Daniel Rosenthal | Published Aug. 15, 2008 00:08

Evoking A Clockwork Orange and The Silence of the Lambs, Julie Taymor's Titus reveals that the horrors of Shakespeare's play are matched only by the play's compassion. In her feature film debut, Taymor, who based the movie on her off-Broadway production of Shakespeare's darkest play, combines ancient horrors with more recent history or cinematic fiction. The writer-director fashioned a masterpiece not from an inherently cinematic, fast-paced drama such as Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet, but a play that in the theater may seem purely horrific or excessively comic, devoid of emotional or intellectual meaning.
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The Ballerina Ballroom: The Place of Moviemakers’ Dreams

by Lauren Barbato | Published Aug. 15, 2008 00:08

From the minds of Academy Award-winning actress Tilda Swinton and director-producer Mark Cousins has sprung a rather unconventional film festival that combines everything from fairy cakes to Singin’ in the Rain to Joel Coen. Opening on Friday, August 15th and running until August 23rd, the Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams was conceived on what Swinton calls a “quixotic seizure” when she first stumbled upon, and subsequently fell in love, with an endearing ballroom—called “The Ballerina”—nestled in Nairn, Scotland. Together, Swinton and Cousins have developed an exciting new event that rids itself of red carpets and press conferences, A-list pretension and superficiality, in order to simply appreciate, celebrate and fall in love with the magic of moviemaking. (1 comment)

Ben Stiller’s Days of Thunder

Reluctant funnyman still doing his own thing with Tropic Thunder

by Timothy Rhys | Published Aug. 14, 2008 10:08

Best-known as one of Hollywood's most bankable funnymen, Ben Stiller has always been more interested in what's going on behind the camera. His upcoming slate of films, including Tropic Thunder, which he produced, directed and stars in, is proof positive. (1 comment)

Tropic Thunder Creates Storm of Controversy

by Kyle Rupprecht | Published Aug. 12, 2008 14:08

When Ben Stiller was penning his latest film, Tropic Thunder, he probably never imagined the kind of controversy a subplot would create: A call to boycott the film from more than 20 disability advocacy organizations, just days before Tropic Thunder’s August 13th premiere. (3 comments)

NCSA Becomes UNCSA

by Jessica Wall | Published Aug. 12, 2008 13:08

Some may not see a big difference between “North Carolina School of the Arts” and “The University of North Carolina School of the Arts,” but the school’s chancellor, John Mauceri, explains that the recent name change “is emblematic, in every sense, of a larger and, for us, deeply important shift in the attitude of our university and state leaders toward the School of the Arts.” The North Carolina School of the Arts became The University of North Carolina School of the Arts after the Governor gave his stamp of approval and signed it into law on August 8th (the bill had previously passed unanimously in the Senate and by a margin of 115 to 1 in the House).
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